LITTLE    CLASSICS 

EDITED  BY 

KOSSITER  JOHNSON 


STORIES  OF 
FORTUNE 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

re0$  Cambribge 
1914 


COPYRIGHT,   1875,   BY  JAMES   R.  OSGOOD  &  CO. 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


CONTENTS. 

PAGM 
THE   GOLD-BUG Edgar  Allan  Foe  ...      7 

THE  FAIRY-FINDER Samuel  Loner     ...    58 

.  MURAD  THE   UNLUCKY       .      .      .      Maria  Edgeworth      .      .      86 

THE  CHILDREN  OP  THE  PUBLIC  Edward  Everett  Hale  •  134 
THE  RIVAL  DREAMERS  .  .  .  JohnBanim  .  .  .  179 
THE  THREEFOLD  DESTINY  .  .  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  .  204 


THE  GOLD-BUG. 

BY  EDGAR   ALLAN  POE. 

What  ho  !  what  ho  !  this  fellow  is  dancing  mad  ! 
He  hath  been  bitten  by  the  Tarantula. 

All  in  the  Wra*g. 


years  ago  I  contracted  an  intimacy  with  a 
Mr.  William  Legrand.  He  was  of  an  ancient 
Huguenot  family,  and  had  once  been  wealthy  ; 
but  a  series  of  misfortunes  had  reduced  him  to  want. 
To  avoid  the  mortification  consequent  upon  his  disasters, 
he  left  New  Orleans,  the  city  of  his  forefathers,  and 
took  up  his  residence  at  Sullivan's  Island,  near  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina. 

This  island  is  a  very  singular  one.  It  consists  of 
little  else  than  the  sea-sand,  and  is  about  three  miles 
long.  Its  breadth  at  no  point  exceeds  a  quarter  of  a 
mile.  It  is  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  scarcely 
perceptible  creek  oozing  its  way  through  a  wilderness  of 
reeds  and  slime,  a  favorite  resort  of  the  marsh-hen.  The 
vegetation,  as  might  be  supposed,  is  scant,  or  at  least 
dwarfish.  No  trees  of  any  magnitude  are  to  be  seen. 
Near  the  western  extremity,  where  Port  Moultrie  stands, 
and  where  are  some  miserable  frame  buildings,  tenanted, 


8  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

during  summer,  by  the  fugitives  from  Charleston  dust 
and  fever,  may  be  found,  indeed,  the  bristly  palmetto; 
but  the  whole  island,  with  the  exception  of  this  western 
point,  and  a  line  of  hard,  white  beach  on  the  sea-coast, 
is  covered  with  a  dense  undergrowth  of  the  sweet  myrtle, 
so  much  prized  by  the  horticulturists  of  England.  The 
shrub  here  often  attains  the  height  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet,  and  forms  an  almost  impenetrable  coppice,  burden- 
ing the  air  with  its  fragrance. 

In  the  inmost  recesses  of  this  coppice,  not  far  from 
the  eastern  or  more  remote  end  of  the  island,  Legrand 
had  built  himself  a  small  hut,  which  he  occupied  when 
I  first,  by  mere  accident,  made  his  acquaintance.  This 
soon  ripened  into  friendship,  —  for  there  was  much  in 
the  recluse  to  excite  interest  and  esteem.  I  found  him 
well  educated,  with  unusual  powers  of  mind,  but  in- 
fected with  misanthropy,  and  subject  to  perverse  moods 
of  alternate  enthusiasm  and  melancholy.  He  had  with 
him  many  books,  but  rarely  employed  them.  His  chief 
amusements  were  gunning  and  fishing,  or  sauntering 
along  the  beach  and  through  the  myrtles,  in  quest  of 
shells  or  entomological  specimens  ;  —  his  collection  of 
the  latter  might  have  been  envied  by  a  Swammer- 
dam.  In  these  excursions  he  was  usually  accompanied 
by  an  old  negro,  called  Jupiter,  who  had  been  manu- 
mitted before  the  reverses  of  the  family,  but  who  could 
be  induced,  neither  by  threats  nor  by  promises,  to  aban- 
don what  he  considered  his  right  of  attendance  upon  the 
footsteps  of  his  young  "  Massa  Will."  It  is  not  improb- 
able that  the  relatives  of  Legrand,  conceiving  him  to  be 
somewhat  unsettled  in  intellect,  had  contrived  to  instil 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  9 

this  obstinacy  into  Jupiter,  with  a  view  to  the  supervis- 
ion and  guardianship  of  the  wanderer. 

The  winters  in  the  latitude  of  Sullivan's  Island  are 
seldom  very  severe,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  year  it  is  a 
rare  event  indeed  when  a  fire  is  considered  necessary. 
About  the  middle  of  October,  18 — ,  there  occurred,  how- 
ever, a  day  of  remarkable  chilliness.  Just  before  sun- 
set I  scrambled  my  way  through  the  evergreens  to  the 
hut  of  my  friend,  whom  I  had  not  visited  for  several 
weeks,  —  my  residence  being,  at  that  time,  in  Charleston, 
a  distance  of  nine  miles  from  the  island,  while  the  fa- 
cilities of  passage  and  re-passage  were  very  far  behind 
those  of  the  present  day.  Upon  reaching  the  hut  I 
rapped,  as  was  my  custom,  and  getting  no  reply,  sought 
for  the  key  where  I  knew  it  was  secreted,  unlocked 
the  door,  and  went  in.  A  fine  fire  was  blazing  upon  the 
hearth.  It  was  a  novelty,  and  by  no  means  an  ungrate- 
ful one.  I  threw  off  an  overcoat,  took  an  arm-chair  by 
the  crackling  logs,  and  awaited  patiently  the  arrival  of 
my  hosts. 

Soon  after  dark  they  arrived,  and  gave  me  a  most 
cordial  welcome.  Jupiter,  grinning  from  ear  to  ear, 
bustled  about  to  prepare  some  marsh-hens  for  supper. 
Legrand  was  in  one  of  his  fits  —  how  else  shall  I  term 
them  ?  —  of  enthusiasm.  He  had  found  an  unknown 
bivalve,  forming  a  new  genus,  and,  more  than  this,  he 
had  hunted  down  and  secured,  with  Jupiter's  assistance, 
a  scarabeeus  which  he  believed  to  be  totally  new,  but  in 
respect  to  which  he  wished  to  have  my  opinion  on  the 
morrow. 

"  And  why  not  to-night  ? "  I  asked,  rubbing  my  hands 
1* 


10  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

over  the  blaze,  and  wishing  the  whole  tribe  of  scarabeet 
at  the  devil. 

"Ah,  if  I  had  only  known  you  were  here ! "  said  Le- 
grand,  "  but  it  's  so  long  since  I  saw  you ;  and  how 
could  I  foresee  that  you  would  pay  me  a  visit  this  very 
night  of  all  others?  As  I  was  coming  home  I  met 

Lieutenant  G ,  from  the  fort,  and,  very  foolishly, 

I  lent  him  the  bug ;  so  it  will  be  impossible  for  you  to 
see  it  until  the  morning.  Stay  here  to-night,  and  I  will 
send  Jup  down  for  it  at  sunrise.  It  is  the  loveliest 
thing  in  creation !  " 

"What?  — sunrise?" 

"  Nonsense !  no  !  —  the  bug.  It  is  of  a  brilliant  gold 
color,  —  about  the  size  of  a  large  hickory-nut,  —  with  two 
jet-black  spots  near  one  extremity  of  the  back,  and 
another,  somewhat  longer,  at  the  other.  The  antenna 
are  —  " 

"  Dey  aint  no  tin  in  him,  Massa  Will,  I  keep  a  tellin 
on  you,"  here  interrupted  Jupiter ;  "  de  bug  is  a 
goole-bug,  solid,  ebery  bit  of  him,  inside  and  all,  sep 
nim  wing,  —  neber  feel  half  so  hebby  a  bug  in  my 
life." 

"Well,  suppose  it  is,  Jup,"  replied  Legrand,  some- 
what more  earnestly,  it  seemed  to  me,  than  the  case 
demanded,  "  is  that  any  reason  for  your  letting  the  birds 
burn  ?  The  color  "  —  here  he  turned  to  me  —  "is  really 
almost  enough  to  warrant  Jupiter's  idea.  You  never 
saw  a  more  brilliant  metallic  lustre  than  the  scales  emit, 
—  but  of  this  you  cannot  judge  till  to-morrow.  In  the 
mean  time  I  can  give  you  some  idea  of  the  shape." 
Saying  this,  he  seated  himself  at  a  small  table,  on  which 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  11 

were  a  pen  and  ink,  but  no  paper.    He  looked  for  some 
in  a  drawer,  but  found  none. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  he  at  length,  "  this  will  answer  " ; 
and  he  drew  from  his  waistcoat-pocket  a  scrap  of  what 
I  took  to  be  very  dirty  foolscap,  and  made  upon  it  a 
rough  drawing  with  the  pen.  While  he  did  this,  I  re- 
tained my  seat  by  the  fire,  for  I  was  still  chilly.  When 
the  design  was  complete,  he  handed  it  to  me  without 
rising.  As  I  received  it,  a  loud  growl  was  heard,  suc- 
ceeded by  a  scratching  at  the  door.  Jupiter  opened  it, 
and  a  large  Newfoundland,  belonging  to  Legrand,  rushed 
in,  leaped  upon  my  shoulders,  and  loaded  me  with  ca- 
resses ;  for  I  had  shown  him  much  attention  during  pre- 
vious visits.  When  his  gambols  were  over,  I  looked  at 
the  paper,  and,  to  speak  the  truth,  found  myself  not  a 
,  little  puzzled  at  what  my  friend  had  depicted. 

"  Well ! "  I  said,  after  contemplating  it  for  some  min- 
utes, "  this  is  a  strange  scarabeeus,  I  must  confess :  new 
to  me:  never  saw  anything  like  it  before,  —  unless  it 
was  a  skull,  or  a  death's-head,  —  which  it  more  nearly 
resembles  than  anything  else  that  has  come  under  my 
observation." 

"  A  death's-head  !  "  echoed  Legrand  —  "0  —  yes  — • 
well,  it  has  something  of  that  appearance  upon  paper, 
no  doubt.  The  two  upper  black  spots  look  like  eyes, 
eh  ?  and  the  longer  one  at  the  bottom  like  a  mouth,  — 
and  then  the  shape  of  the  whole  is  oval." 

"  Perhaps  so,"  said  I ;  "  but,  Legrand,  I  fear  you 
are  no  artist.  I  must  wait  until  I  see  the  beetle  itself,  if 
I  am  to  form  any  idea  of  its  personal  appearance." 

"  Well,  I  don't  know,"  said  he,  a  little  nettled,  "  I 


12  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

draw  tolerably,  —  should  do  it  at  least,  —  have  had  good 
masters,  and  flatter  myself  that  I  am  not  quite  a  block- 
head." 

"But,  my  dear  fellow,  you  are  joking,  then,"  said  I, 
"  this  is  a  very  passable  skull,  —  indeed,  I  may  say  that 
it  is  a  very  excellent  skull,  according  to  the  vulgar  no- 
tions about  such  specimens  of  physiology,  —  and  your 
scarab&us  must  be  the  queerest  scarabeeus  in  the  world 
if  it  resembles  it.  Why,  we  may  get  up  a  very  thrilling 
bit  of  superstition  upon  this  hint.  I  presume  you  will 
call  the  bug  scarabceus  caput  hominis,  or  something  of 
that  kind,  —  there  are  many  similar  titles  in  the  Natural 
Histories.  But  where  are  the  antenna  you  spoke  of  ?  " 

"  The  antennae ! "  said  Legrand,  who  seemed  to  be 
getting  unaccountably  warm  upon  the  subject ;  "  I  am 
sure  you  must  see  the  antenna.  I  made  them  as  dis- 
tinct as  they  are  in  the  original  insect,  and  I  presume 
that  is  sufficient." 

"Well,  well,"  I  said,  "perhaps  you  have,  —  still  I 
don't  see  them  " ;  and  I  handed  him  the  paper  without 
additional  remark,  not  wishing  to  ruffle  his  temper ;  but 
I  was  much  surprised  at  the  turn  affairs  had  taken ;  his 
ill-humor  puzzled  me;  and,  as  for  the  drawing  of  the 
beetle,  there  were  positively  no  antenna  visible,  and  the 
whole  did  bear  a  very  close  resemblance  to  the  ordinary 
cuts  of  a  death's-head. 

He  received  the  paper  very  peevishly,  and  was  about 
to  crumple  it,  apparently  to  throw  it  in  the  fire,  when  a 
casual  glance  at  the  design  seemed  suddenly  to  rivet 
his  attention.  In  an  instant  his  face  grew  violently  red, 
—  in  another  as  excessively  pale.  For  some  minutes  he 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  13 

continued  to  scrutinize  the  drawing  minutely  where  he 
sat.  At  length  he  arose,  took  a  candle  from  the  table, 
and  proceeded  to  seat  himself  upon  a  sea-chest  in  the 
farthest  corner  of  the  room.  Here  again  he  made  an 
anxious  examination  of  the  paper,  turning  it  in  all  di- 
rections. He  said  nothing,  however,  and  his  conduct 
greatly  astonished  me ;  yet  I  thought  it  prudent  not  to 
exacerbate  the  growing  moodiness  of  his  temper  by  any 
comment.  Presently  he  took  from  his  coat-pocket  a 
wallet,  placed  the  paper  carefully  in  it,  and  deposited 
both  in  a  writing-desk,  which  he  locked.  He  now  grew 
more  composed  in  his  demeanor ;  but  his  original  air  of 
enthusiasm  had  quite  disappeared.  Yet  he  seemed  not 
so  much  sulky  as  abstracted.  As  the  evening  wore  away 
he  became  more  and  more  absorbed  in  revery,  from 
which  no  sallies  of  mine  could  arouse  him.  It  had  been 
my  intention  to  pass  the  night  at  the  hut,  as  I  had  fre- 
quently done  before,  but,  seeing  my  host  in  this  mood, 
I  deemed  it  proper  to  take  leave.  He  did  not  press  me 
to  remain,  but,  as  I  departed,  he  shook  my  hand  with 
even  more  than  his  usual  cordiality. 

It  was  about  a  month  after  this  (and  during  the  in- 
terval I  had  seen  nothing  of  Legrand)  when  I  received 
a  visit,  at  Charleston,  from  his  man,  Jupiter.  I  had 
never  seen  the  good  old  negro  look  so  dispirited,  and 
I  feared  that  some  serious  disaster  had  befallen  my 
friend. 

"Well,  Jup,"  said  I,  "what  is  the  matter  now?  — 
how  is  your  master  ?  " 

"Why,  to  speak  de  troof,  massa,  him  not  so  berry 
veil  as  mought  be." 


14  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"  Not  well !  I  am  truly  sorry  to  hear  it.  What  does 
he  complain  of  ?  " 

"Dar!  dat's  it! — him  neber  plain  of  notin, —  but 
him  berry  sick  for  all  dat." 

"  Very  sick,  Jupiter !  —  why  did  n't  you  say  so  at 
once  ?  Is  he  confined  to  bed  ?  " 

"  No,  dat  he  aint !  —  he  aint  find  nowhar,  —  dat 's  just 
whar  de  shoe  pinch,  —  my  mind  is  got  to  be  berry 
hebby  bout  poor  Massa  Will." 

"  Jupiter,  I  should  like  to  understand  what  it  is  you 
are  talking  about.  You  say  your  master  is  sick.  Has 
n't  he  told  you  what  ails  him  ?  " 

"  Why,  massa,  taint  worf  while  for  to  git  mad  about 
de  matter,  —  Massa  Will  say  nofiin  at  all  aint  de  matter 
wid  him,  —  but  den  what  make  him  go  about  looking  dis 
here  way,  wid  he  head  down  and  he  soldiers  up,  and 
as  white  as  a  gose  ?  And  den  he  keep  a  syphon  all  de 
time  —  " 

"  Keeps  a  what,  Jupiter  ?  " 

"  Keeps  a  syphon  wid  de  figgurs  on  de  slate,  —  de 
queerest  figgurs  I  ebber  did  see.  Ise  gittin  to  be  skeered, 
I  tell  you.  Hab  for  to  keep  mighty  tight  eye  pon  him 
noovers.  Todder  day  he  gib  me  slip  fore  de  sun  up  and 
was  gone  de  whole  ob  de  blessed  day.  I  had  a  big 
stick  ready  cut  for  to  gib  him  deuced  good  beating  when 
he  did  come,  —  but  Ise  sich  a  fool  dat  I  had  n't  de  heart 
arter  all,  —  he  look  so  berry  poorly." 

"  Eh  ?  —  what  ?  —  ah  yes  !  —  upon  the  whole  I  think 
you  had  better  not  be  too  severe  with  the  poor  fellow,  — 
don't  flog  him,  Jupiter,  —  he  can't  very  well  stand  it,  — 
but  can  you  form  no  idea  of  what  has  occasioned  this 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  15 

illness,  or  rather  this  change  of  conduct  ?  Has  anything 
unpleasant  happened  since  I  saw  you  ?  " 

"  No,  massa,  dey  aint  bin  noffin  onpleasant  since  den, 
—  'twas  fore  den  I  'm  feared,  —  't  was  de  berry  day  you 
was  dare." 

"  How  ?  what  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  Why,  massa,  I  mean  de  bug  —  dare  now." 

"  The  what  ?  " 

"  De  bug,  —  I  'm  berry  sartain  dat  Massa  Will  bin 
bit  somewhere  bout  de  head  by  dat  goole-bug." 

"  And  what  cause  have  you,  Jupiter,  for  such  a  suppo- 
sition?" 

"  Claws  enuff,  massa,  and  mouff  too.  I  nebber  did  see 
sich  a  deuced  bug,  — he  kick  and  he  bite  ebery  ting  what 
cum  near  him.  Massa  Will  cotch  him  fuss,  but  had  for 
to  let  him  go  gin  mighty  quick,  I  tell  you  —  den  was  de 
time  he  must  ha  got  de  bite.  I  did  n't  like  de  look  ob 
de  bug  mouff,  myself,  no  how,  so  I  would  n't  take  hold 
ob  him  wid  my  finger,  but  I  cotch  him  wid  a  piece  ob 
paper  dat  I  found.  I  rap  him  up  in  de  paper  and  stuff 
piece  ob  it  in  he  mouff,  —  dat  was  de  way." 

"And  you  think,  then,  that  your  master  was  really 
bitten  by  the  beetle,  and  that  the  bite  made  him  sick  ?  " 

"I  don't  tink  noffin  about  it,  —  I  nose  it.  What 
make  him  dream  bout  de  goole  so  much,  if  taint  cause  he 
bit  by  de  goole-bug?  Ise  heerd  bout  dem  goole-bugs 
fore  dis." 

"  But  how  do  you  know  he  dreams  about  gold  ?  " 

"How  I  know?  why  cause  he  talk  about  it  in  he 
sleep,  —  dat 's  how  I  nose." 

"  Well,  Jup,  perhaps  you  are  right ;  but  to  what  for- 


16  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

tunate  circumstance  am  I  to  attribute  the  honor  of  a  visit 

from  you  to-day  ?  " 

"What  de  matter,  massa  ?  " 

"  Did  you  bring  any  message  from  Mr.  Legrand  ?  " 

"  No,  massa,  I  bring  dis  here  pissel " ;  and  here  Jupiter 

handed  me  a  note  which  ran  thus :  — 

MY  DEAE :  Why  have  I  not  seen  you  for  so  long  a 

time  ?  I  hope  you  have  not  been  so  foolish  as  to  take  offence 
at  any  little  brusquerie  of  mine ;  but  no,  that  is  improbable. 

Since  I  saw  you  I  have  had  great  cause  for  anxiety.  I  have 
something  to  tell  you,  yet  scarcely  know  how  to  tell  it,  or 
whether  I  should  tell  it  at  all. 

I  have  not  been  quite  well  for  some  days  past,  and  poor  old 
Jup  annoys  me,  almost  beyond  endurance,  by  his  well-meant 
attentions.  Would  you  believe  it  ?  —  he  had  prepared  a  huge 
stick,  the  other  day,  with  which  to  chastise  me  for  giving  him 
the  slip,  and  spending  the  day,  solus,  among  the  hills  on  the 
mainland.  I  verily  believe  that  my  ill  looks  aloue  saved  me  a 


I  have  made  no  addition  to  my  cabinet  since  we  met. 

If  you  can  in  any  way  make  it  convenient,  come  over  with 
Jupiter.  Do  come.  I  wish  to  see  you  to-night,  upon  business 
of  importance.  I  assure  you  that  it  is  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance. Ever  yours, 

WILLIAM  LEGRAND. 

There  was  something  in  the  tone  of  this  note  which 
gave  me  great  uneasiness.  Its  whole  style  differed 
materially  from  that  of  Legrand.  What  could  he  be 
dreaming  of?  What  new  crotchet  possessed  his  excita- 
ble brain  ?  What  "  business  of  the  highest  importance  " 
could  he  possibly  have  to  transact?  Jupiter's  account 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  17 

of  him  boded  no  good.  I  dreaded  lest  the  continued 
pressure  of  misfortune  had,  at  length,  fairly  unsettled  the 
reason  of  my  friend.  Without  a  moment's  hesitation, 
therefore,  I  prepared  to  accompany  the  negro. 

Upon  reaching  the  wharf,  I  noticed  a  scythe  and  three 
spades,  all  apparently  new,  lying  in  the  bottom  of  the 
boat  in  which  we  were  to  embark. 

"  What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this,  Jup  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Him  syfe,  massa,  and  spade." 

"  Very  true ;  but  what  are  they  doing  here  ?  " 

"  Him  de  syfe  and  de  spade  what  Massa  Will  sis  pon 
my  buying  for  him  in  de  town,  and  de  debbil's  own  lot  of 
money  I  had  to  gib  for  em." 

"But  what,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  mysterious, 
is  your  '  Massa  Will '  going  to  do  with  scythes  and 
spades  ? " 

"Dat's  more  dan  /  know,  and  debbil  take  me  if  I 
don't  blieve  't  is  more  dan  he  know,  too.  But  it 's  all 
cum  ob  de  bug." 

Finding  that  no  satisfaction  was  to  be  obtained  of 
Jupiter,  whose  whole  intellect  seemed  to  be  absorbed  by 
"  de  bug,"  I  now  stepped  into  the  boat  and  made  sail. 
With  a  fair  and  strong  breeze  we  soon  ran  into  the  little 
cove  to  the  northward  of  Fort  Moultrie,  and  a  walk  of 
some  two  miles  brought  us  to  the  hut.  It  was  about 
three  in  the  afternoon  when  we  arrived.  Legrand  had 
been  awaiting  us  in  eager  expectation.  He  grasped  my 
hand  with  a  nervous  empressement  which  alarmed  me  and 
strengthened  the  suspicions  already  entertained.  His 
countenance  was  pale  even  to  ghastliness,  and  his  deep- 
set  eyes  glared  with  unnatural  lustre.  After  some  in- 

B 


18  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

quiries  respecting  his  health,  I  asked  him,  not  knowing 
what  better  to  say,  if  he  had  yet  obtained  the  scarabeeus 
from  Lieutenant  G . 

"0  yes,"  he  replied,  coloring  violently,  "I  got  it 
from  him  the  next  morning.  Nothing  should  tempt  me 
to  part  with  that  scarabaus.  Do  you  know  that  Jupiter 
is  quite  right  about  it  ?  " 

"  In  what  way  ?  "  I  asked,  with  a  sad  foreboding  at 
heart. 

"  In  supposing  it  to  be  a  bug  of  real  gold."  He  said 
this  with  an  air  of  profound  seriousness,  and  I  felt  inex- 
pressibly shocked. 

"  This  bug  is  to  make  my  fortune,"  he  continued,  with 
a  triumphant  smile,  "  to  reinstate  me  in  my  family  pos- 
sessions. Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  I  prize  it  ?  Since 
Fortune  has  thought  fit  to  bestow  it  upon  me,  I  have 
only  to  use  it  properly  and  I  shall  arrive  at  the  gold  of 
which  it  is  the  index.  Jupiter,  bring  me  that  scara- 


"  What !  de  bug,  massa  ?  I  M  rudder  not  go  fer 
trubble  dat  bug,  —  you  mus  git  him  for  your  own  self." 
Hereupon  Legrand  arose,  with  a  grave  and  stately  air, 
and  brought  me  the  beetle  from  a  glass  case  in  which  it 
was  enclosed.  It  was  a  beautiful  scarabeeus,  and,  at  that 
time,  unknown  to  naturalists,  —  of  course  a  great  prize  in 
a  scientific  point  of  view.  There  were  two  round  black 
spots  near  one  extremity  of  the  back,  and  a  long  one 
near  the  other.  The  scales  were  exceedingly  hard  and 
glossy,  with  all  the  appearance  of  burnished  gold.  The 
weight  of  the  insect  was  very  remarkable,  and,  taking  all 
things  into  consideration,  I  could  hardly  blame  Jupiter 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  19 

for  his  opinion  respecting  it ;  but  what  to  make  of  Le- 
grand's  concordance  with  that  opinion  I  could  not  for 
the  life  of  me  tell. 

"  I  sent  for  you,"  said  he,  in  a  grandiloquent  tone, 
when  I  had  completed  my  examination  of  the  beetle,  — 
"I  sent  for  you,  that  I  might  have  your  counsel  and 
assistance  in  furthering  the  views  of  Fate  and  of  the 
bug-" 

"  My  dear  Legrand,"  I  cried,  interrupting  him,  "  you 
are  certainly  unwell,  and  had  better  use  some  little  pre- 
cautions. You  shall  go  to  bed,  and  I  will  remain  with 
you  a  few  days,  until  you  get  over  this.  You  are  feverish, 
and  —  " 

"  Feel  my  pulse,"  said  he. 

I  felt  it,  and,  to  say  the  truth,  found  not  the  slightest 
indication  of  fever. 

"  But  you  may  be  ill  and  yet  have  no  fever.  Allow 
me  this  once  to  prescribe  for  you.  In  the  first  place,  go 
to  bed.  In  the  next  —  " 

"  You  are  mistaken,"  he  interposed ;  "  I  am  as  well  as 
I  can  expect  to  be  under  the  excitement  which  I  suffer. 
If  you  really  wish  me  well,  you  will  relieve  this  excite- 
ment." 

"  And  how  is  this  to  be  done  ?  " 

"  Very  easily.  Jupiter  and  myself  are  going  upon  an 
expedition  into  the  hills,  upon  the  mainland,  and,  in  this 
expedition,  we  shall  need  the  aid  of  some  person  in  whom 
we  can  confide.  You  are  the  only  one  we  can  trust. 
Whether  we  succeed  or  fail,  the  excitement  which  you 
now  perceive  in  me  will  be  equally  allayed." 

"  I  am  anxious  to  oblige  you  in  any  way,"  I  replied ; 


20  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

"  but  do  you  mean  to  say  that  this  infernal  beetle  has 
any  connection  with  your  expedition  into  the  hills  ?  " 

"It  has." 

"Then,  Legrand,  I  can  become  a  party  to  no  such 
absurd  proceeding." 

"  I  am  sorry  —  very  sorry  —  for  we  shall  have  to  try 
it  by  ourselves." 

"  Try  it  by  yourselves  !  The  man  is  surely  mad !  — 
but  stay  !  —  how  long  do  you  propose  to  be  absent  ?  " 

"  Probably  all  night.  We  shall  start  immediately,  and 
be  back,  at  all  events,  by  sunrise." 

"And  will  you  promise  me,  upon  your  honor,  that 
when  this  freak  of  yours  is  over,  and  the  bug  business 
(good  God !)  settled  to  your  satisfaction,  you  will  then 
return  home  and  follow  my  advice  implicitly,  as  that  of 
your  physician  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  I  promise ;  and  now  let  us  be  off,  for  we  have 
no  time  to  lose." 

With  a  heavy  heart  I  accompanied  my  friend.  We 
started  about  four  o'clock,  —  Legrand,  Jupiter,  the  dog, 
and  myself.  Jupiter  had  with  him  the  scythe  and  spades, 
the  whole  of  which  he  insisted  upon  carrying,  —  more 
through  fear,  it  seemed  to  me,  of  trusting  either  of  the 
implements  within  reach  of  his  master,  than  from  any 
excess  of  industry  or  complaisance.  His  demeanor  was 
dogged  in  the  extreme,  and  "  dat  deuced  bug  "  were  the 
sole  words  which  escaped  his  lips  during  the  journey. 
For  my  own  part,  I  had  charge  of  a  couple  of  dark-lan- 
terns, while  Legrand  contented  himself  with  the  scara- 
l<eus,  which  he  carried  attached  to  the  end  of  a  bit  of 
whip-cord;  twirling  it  to  and  fro,  with  the  air  of  a 


THE   GOLD-BTJa.  21 

conjurer,  as  he  went.  When  I  observed  this  last  plain 
evidence  of  my  friend's  aberration  of  mind,  I  could 
scarcely  refrain  from  tears.  I  thought  it  best,  however, 
to  humor  his  fancy,  at  least  for  the  present,  or  until  I 
could  adopt  some  more  energetic  measures  with  a  chance 
of  success.  In  the  mean  time  I  endeavored,  but  all  in 
vain,  to  sound  him  in  regard  to  the  object  of  the  expedi- 
tion. Having  succeeded  in  inducing  me  to  accompany 
him,  he  seemed  unwilling  to  hold  conversation  upon  any 
topic  of  minor  importance,  and  to  all  my  questions  vouch- 
safed no  other  reply  than  "  we  shall  see  !  " 

We  crossed  the  creek  at  the  head  of  the  island  by 
means  of  a  skiff,  and,  ascending  the  high  grounds  on  the 
shore  of  the  mainland,  proceeded  in  a  northwesterly 
direction,  through  a  tract  of  country  excessively  wild 
and  desolate,  where  no  trace  of  a  human  footstep  was  to 
be  seen.  Legrand  led  the  way  with  decision ;  pausing 
only  for  an  instant,  here  and  there,  to  consult  what 
appeared  to  be  certain  landmarks  of  his  own  contrivance 
upon  a  former  occasion. 

In  this  manner  we  journeyed  for  about  two  hours,  and 
the  sun  was  just  setting  when  we  entered  a  region  infi- 
nitely more  dreary  than  any  yet  seen.  It  was  a  species  of 
table-land,  near  the  summit  of  an  almost  inaccessible  hill, 
densely  wooded  from  base  to  pinnacle,  and  interspersed 
with  huge  crags  that  appeared  to  lie  loosely  upon  the 
soil,  and  in  many  cases  were  prevented  from  precipitating 
themselves  into  the  valleys  below,  merely  by  the  support 
of  the  trees  against  which  they  reclined.  Deep  ravines, 
in  various  directions,  gave  an  air  of  still  sterner  solemnity 
to  the  scene. 


22  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

The  natural  platform  to  which  we  had  clambered  was 
thickly  overgrown  with  brambles,  through  which  we  soon 
discovered  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  force 
our  way  but  for  the  scythe ;  and  Jupiter,  by  direction  of 
his  master,  proceeded  to  clear  for  us  a  path  to  the  foot 
of  an  enormously  tall  tulip-tree,  which  stood,  with  some 
eight  or  ten  oaks,  upon  the  level,  and  far  surpassed  them 
all,  and  all  other  trees  which  I  had  then  ever  seen,  in  the 
beauty  of  its  foliage  and  form,  in  the  wide  spread  of  its 
branches,  and  in  the  general  majesty  of  its  appearance. 
When  we  reached  this  tree,  Legrand  turned  to  Jupiter, 
and  asked  him  if  he  thought  he  could  climb  it.  The  old 
man  seemed  a  little  staggered  by  the  question,  and  for 
some  moments  made  no  reply.  At  length  he  approached 
the  huge  trunk,  walked  slowly  around  it,  and  examined 
it  with  minute  attention.  When  he  had  completed  his 
scrutiny,  he  merely  said,  — 

"  Yes,  massa,  Jup  climb  any  tree  he  ebber  see  in  he 
life." 

"Then  up  with  you  as  soon  as  possible,  for  it  will 
soon  be  too  dark  to  see  what  we  are  about." 

"  How  far  mus  go  up,  massa  ?  "  inquired  Jupiter. 

"  Get  up  the  main  trunk  first,  and  then  I  will  you 
tell  you  which  way  to  go  —  and  here  —  stop  !  take  this 
beetle  with  you." 

"  De  bug,  Massa  Will !  —  de  goole-bug  !  "  cried  the 
negro,  drawing  back  in  dismay  —  "  what  for  mus  tote  de 
bug  way  up  de  tree  ?  —  d — n  if  I  do  !  " 

"  If  you  are  afraid,  Jup,  a  great  big  negro  like  you, 
to  take  hold  of  a  harmless  little  dead  beetle,  why  you 
can  carry  it  up  by  this  string ;  but,  if  you  do  not  take 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  28 

it  up  with  you  in  some  way,  I  shall  be  under  the  neces- 
sity of  breaking  your  head  with  this  shovel." 

"  What  de  matter  now,  massa  ?  "  said  Jup,  evidently 
shamed  into  compliance  ;  "  always  want  for  to  raise  fuss 
wid  old  nigger.  Was  only  funnin  anyhow.  Me  feered 
de  bug !  what  I  keer  for  de  bug  ? "  Here  he  took 
cautiously  hold  of  the  extreme  end  of  the  string,  and, 
maintaining  the  insect  as  far  from  his  person  as 
circumstances  would  permit,  prepared  to  ascend  the 
tree. 

In  youth,  the  tulip-tree,  or  Liriodendron  tulipiferum, 
the  most  magnificent  of  American  foresters,  has  a  trunk 
peculiarly  smooth,  and  often  rises  to  a  great  height  with- 
out lateral  branches ;  but,  in  its  riper  age,  the  bark  be- 
comes gnarled  and  uneven,  while  many  short  limbs  make 
their  appearance  on  the  stem.  Thus  the  difficulty  of 
ascension,  in  the  present  case,  lay  more  in  semblance 
than  in  reality.  Embracing  the  huge  cylinder,  as  closely 
as  possible,  with  his  arms  and  knees,  seizing  with  his 
hands  some  projections,  and  resting  his  naked  toes  upon 
others,  Jupiter,  after  one  or  two  narrow  escapes  from 
falling,  at  length  wriggled  himself  into  the  first  great 
fork,  and  seemed  to  consider  the  whole  business  as  vir- 
tually accomplished.  The  risk  of  the  achievement  was,  in 
fact,  now  over,  although  the  climber  was  some  sixty  or 
seventy  feet  from  the  ground. 

"  Which  way  mus  go  now,  Massa  Will  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Keep  up  the  largest  branch,  —  the  one  on  this  side," 
said  Legrand.  The  negro  obeyed  him  promptly,  and 
apparently  with  but  little  trouble  ;  ascending  higher  and 
higher,  until  no  glimpse  of  his  squat  figure  could  be 


24  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

obtained  through  the  dense  foliage  which  enveloped  it. 
Presently  his  voice  was  heard  in  a  sort  of  halloo. 

"  How  much  fudder  is  got  for  go  ?  " 

"  How  high  up  are  you  ?  "  asked  Legrand. 

"  Ebber  so  fur,"  replied  the  negro ;  "  can  see  de  sky 
fru  de  top  ob  de  tree." 

"  Never  mind  the  sky,  but  attend  to  what  I  say. 
Look  down  the  trunk  and  count  the  limbs  below  you  on 
this  side.  How  many  limbs  have  you  passed  ?  " 

"  One,  two,  tree,  four,  fibe,  —  I  done  pass  fibe  big 
limb,  massa,  pon  dis  side." 

"  Then  go  one  limb  higher." 

In  a  few  minutes  the  voice  was  heard  again,  an- 
nouncing that  the  seventh  limb  was  attained. 

"Now,  Jup,"  cried  Legrand,  evidently  much  excited, 
"  I  want  you  to  work  your  way  out  upon  that  limb  as  far 
as  you  can.  If  you  see  anything  strange,  let  me  know." 

By  this  time  what  little  doubt  I  might  have  entertained 
of  my  poor  friend's  insanity  was  put  finally  at  rest.  I 
had  no  alternative  but  to  conclude  him  stricken  with 
lunacy,  and  I  became  seriously  anxious  about  getting 
him  home.  While  I  was  pondering  upon  what  was  best 
to  be  done,  Jupiter's  voice  was  again  heard. 

"  Mos  feerd  for  to  ventur  pon  dis  limb  berry  far,  — 
't  is  dead  limb  putty  much  all  de  way." 

"  Did  you  say  it  was  a  dead  limb,  Jupiter  ?  "  cried 
Legrand  in  a  quavering  voice. 

"  Yes,  massa,  him  dead  as  de  door-nail  —  done  up  for 
sartain  —  done  departed  dis  here  life." 

"  What  in  the  name  of  Heaven  shall  I  do  P  "  asked 
Legrand,  seemingly  in  the  greatest  distress. 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  25 

"Do !  "  said  I,  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  interpose  a 
word ;  "  why  come  home  and  go  to  bed.  Come,  now  ! 
—  that 's  a  fine  fellow.  It 's  getting  late,  and,  besides, 
you  remember  your  promise." 

"  Jupiter,"  cried  he,  without  heeding  me  in  the  least, 
"  do  you  hear  me  ? " 

"  Yes,  Massa  Will,  hear  you  ebber  so  plain." 

"  Try  the  wood  well,  then,  with  your  knife,  and  see  if 
you  think  it  very  rotten." 

"  Him  rotten,  massa,  sure  miff,"  replied  the  negro  in  a 
few  moments,  "  but  not  so  berry  rotten  as  mought  be. 
Mought  ventur  out  leetle  way  pon  de  limb  by  myself, 
dat  's  true." 

"  By  yourself  !  —  what  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  Why  I  mean  de  bug.  'T  is  berry  hebby  bug.  Spose 
I  drop  him  down  fuss,  and  den  de  limb  won't  break  wid 
just  de  weight  ob  one  nigger." 

"  You  infernal  scoundrel !  "  cried  Legrand,  apparently 
much  relieved,  "  what  do  you  mean  by  telling  me  such 
nonsense  as  that  ?  As  sure  as  you  drop  that  beetle  I  '11 
break  your  neck.  Look  here,  Jupiter,  do  you  hear 
me?" 

"  Yes,  massa,  need  n't  hollo  at  poor  nigger  dat  style." 

"  Well  !  now  listen !  —  if  you  will  Venture  out  on  the 
limb  as  far  as  you  think  safe,  and  not  let  go  the  beetle, 
I  '11  make  you  a  present  of  a  silver  dollar  as  soon  as  you 
get  down." 

"  I  'm  gwine,  Massa  Will,  —  deed  I  is,"  replied  the 
negro  very  promptly,  —  "  mos  out  to  the  eend  now." 

"  Out  to  the  end!  "  here  fairly  screamed  Legrand ;  "  do 
you  say  you  are  out  to  the  end  of  that  limb  ?  " 

VOL.  XII.  2 


26  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"  Soon  be  to  de  eend,  massa,  —  o-o-o-o-oh !  Lor-gol-a- 
marcy  !  what  is  dis  here  pon  de  tree  ?  " 

"  Well !  "  cried  Legrand,  highly  delighted,  "  what  is 
it?" 

"  Why,  taint  noffin  but  a  skull  —  somebody  bin  lef  him 
head  up  de  tree,  and  de  crows  done  gobble  ebery  bit  ob 
de  meat  off."  , 

"  A  skull,  you  say  !  — very  well !  —  how  is  it  fastened 
to  the  limb  ?  —  what  holds  it  on  ?  " 

"  Sure  nuff,  massa ;  mus  look.  Why  dis  berry  curous 
sarcumstance,  pon  my  word,  —  dare 's  a  great  big  nail  in 
de  skull,  what  fastens  ob  it  on  to  de  tree." 

"  Well,  now,  Jupiter,  do  exactly  as  I  tell  you,  —  do 
you  hear  ?  " 

"  Yes,  massa." 

"  Pay  attention,  then !  —  find  the  left  eye  of  the 
skull." 

"  Hum  !  hoo  !  dat  's  good !  why,  dare  aint  no  eye  lef 
at  all." 

"  Curse  your  stupidity  !  do  you  know  your  right  hand 
from  your  left  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  nose  dat,  —  nose  all  bout  dat,  —  't  is  my  lef 
hand  what  I  chops  de  wood  wid." 

"  To  be  sure !  you  are  left-handed ;  and  your  left 
eye  is  on  the  same  side  as  your  left  hand.  Now,  I 
suppose,  you  can  find  the  left  eye  of  the  skull,  or  the 
pkce  where  the  left  eye  has  been.  Have  you  found 
it?" 

Here  was  a  long  pause.    At  length  the  negro  asked,  — 

"  Is  de  lef  eye  of  de  skull  pon  de  same  side  as  de  lef 
hand  of  de  skull,  too  ?  —  cause  de  skull  aint  got  not  a 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  27 

bit  ob  a  hand  at  all,  —  nebber  mind  !  I  got  de  lef  eye 
now,  —  here  de  lef  eye  !  what  mus  do  wid  it  ?  " 

"  Let  the  beetle  drop  through  it,  as  far  as  the  string 
will  reach,  —  but  be  careful  and  not  let  go  your  hold  of 
the  string." 

"  All  dat  done,  Massa  Will ;  mighty  easy  ting  for  to 
put  de  bug  fru  de  hole,  —  look  out  for  him  dare  below  !  " 

During  this  colloquy  no  portion  of  Jupiter's  person 
could  be  seen ;  but  the  beetle,  which  he  had  suffered  to 
descend,  was  now  visible  at  the  end  of  the  string,  and 
glistened,  like  a  globe  of  burnished  gold,  in  the  last  rays 
of  the  setting  sun,  some  of  which  still  faintly  illumined 
the  eminence  upon  which  we  stood.  The  scarabceus 
hung  quite  clear  of  any  branches,  and,  if  allowed  to  fall, 
would  have  fallen  at  our  feet.  Legrand  immediately 
,took  the  scythe,  and  cleared  with  it  a  circular  space, 
three  or  four  yards  in  diameter,  just  beneath  the  insect, 
and,  having  accomplished  this,  ordered  Jupiter  to  let  go 
the  string  and  come  down  from  the  tree. 

Driving  a  peg,  with  great  nicety,  into  the  ground,  at 
the  precise  spot  where  the  beetle  fell,  my  friend  now  pro- 
duced from  his  pocket  a  tape-measure.  Fastening  one 
end  of  this  at  that  point  of  the  trunk  of  the  tree  which 
was  nearest  the  peg,  he  unrolled  it  till  it  roached  the  peg, 
and  thence  farther  unrolled  it,  in  the  direction  already 
established  by  the  two  points  of  the  tree  and  the  peg, 
for  the  distance  of  fifty  feet,  —  Jupiter  clearing  away  the 
brambles  with  the  scythe.  At  the  spot  thus  attained 
a  second  peg  was  driven,  and  about  this,  as  a  centre, 
a  rude  circle,  about  four  feet  in  diameter,  described. 
Taking  now  a  spade  himself,  and  giving  one  to  Jupiter 


28  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

and  one  to  me,  Legrand  begged  us  to  set  about  digging 
as  quickly  as  possible. 

To  speak  the  truth,  I  had  no  especial  relish  for  such 
amusement  at  any  time,  and,  at  that  particular  moment, 
would  most  willingly  have  declined  it;  for  the  night  was 
coming  on,  and  I  felt  much  fatigued  with  the  exercise 
already  taken ;  but  I  saw  no  mode  of  escape,  and  was 
fearful  of  disturbing  my  poor  friend's  equanimity  by  a 
refusal.  Could  I  have  depended,  indeed,  upon  Jupiter's 
aid,  I  would  have  had  no  hesitation  in  attempting  to  get 
the  lunatic  home  by  force ;  but  I  was  too  well  assured 
of  the  old  negro's  disposition,  to  hope  that  he  would 
assist  me,  under  any  circumstances,  in  a  personal  con- 
test  with  his  master.  I  made  no  doubt  that  the  lat- 
ter had  been  infected  with  some  of  the  innumerable 
Southern  superstitions  about  money  buried,  and  that 
his  fantasy  had  received  confirmation  by  the  finding  of 
the  scarabteus,  or,  perhaps,  by  Jupiter's  obstinacy  in 
maintaining  it  to  be  "a  bug  of  real  gold."  A  mind 
disposed  to  lunacy  would  readily  be  led  away  by  such 
suggestions,  —  especially  if  chiming  in  with  favorite 
preconceived  ideas,  —  and  then  I  called  to  mind  the 
poor  fellow's  speech  about  the  beetle's  being  "  the 
index  of  his  fortune."  Upon  the  whole,  I  was  sadly 
vexed  and  puzzled,  but,  at  length,  I  concluded  to 
make  a  virtue  of  necessity,  —  to  dig  with  a  good  will, 
and  thus  the  sooner  to  convince  the  visionary,  by  ocu- 
lar demonstration,  of  the  fallacy  of  the  opinions  he 
entertained. 

The  lanterns  having  been  lit,  we  all  fell  to  work  with 
a  zeal  worthy  a  more  rational  cause ;  and,  as  the  glare 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  29 

fell  upon  our  persons  and  implements,  I  could  not  help 
thinking  how  picturesque  a  group  we  composed,  and 
how  strange  and  suspicious  our  labors  must  have  ap- 
peared to  any  interloper  who,  by  chance,  might  have 
stumbled  upon  our  whereabouts. 

We  dug  very  steadily  for  two  hours.  Little  was 
said;  and  our  chief  embarrassment  lay  in  the  yelpings 
of  the  dog,  who  took  exceeding  interest  in  our  pro- 
ceedings. He,  at  length,  became  so  obstreperous  that 
we  grew  fearful  of  his  giving  the  alarm  to  some  strag- 
glers in  the  vicinity  ;  —  or,  rather,  this  was  the  apprehen- 
sion of  Legrand  ;  —  for  myself,  I  should  have  rejoiced  at 
any  interruption  which  might  have  enabled  me  to  get 
the  wanderer  home.  The  noise  was,  at  length,  very 
effectually  silenced  by  Jupiter,  who,  getting  out  of  the 
-hole  with  a  dogged  air  of  deliberation,  tied  the  brute's 
mouth  up  with  one  of  his  suspenders,  and  then  returned, 
with  a  grave  chuckle,  to  his  task. 

When  the  time  mentioned  had  expired,  we  had  reached 
a  depth  of  five  feet,  and  yet  no  signs  of  any  treasure  be- 
came manifest.  A  general  pause  ensued,  and  I  began 
to  hope  that  the  farce  was  at  an  end.  Legrand,  how- 
ever, although  evidently  much  disconcerted,  wiped  his 
brow  thoughtfully  and  recommenced.  We  had  exca- 
vated the  entire  circle  of  four  feet  diameter,  and  now 
we  slightly  enlarged  the  limit,  and  went  to  the  far- 
ther depth  of  two  feet.  Still  nothing  appeared.  The 
gold-seeker,  whom  I  sincerely  pitied,  at  length  clam- 
bered from  the  pit,  with  the  bitterest  disappointment 
imprinted  upon  every  feature,  and  proceeded,  slowly 
and  reluctantly,  to  put  on  his  coat,  which  he  had  thrown 


30  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

off  at  the  beginning  of  his  labor.  In  the  mean  time  1 
made  no  remark.  Jupiter,  at  a  signal  from  his  master, 
began  to  gather  up  his  tools.  This  done,  and  the  dog 
having  been  unmuzzled,  we  turned  in  profound  silence 
towards  home. 

We  had  taken,  perhaps,  a  dozen  steps  in  this  direc- 
tion, when,  with  a  loud  oath,  Legrand  strode  up  to 
Jupiter,  and  seized  him  by  the  collar.  The  astonished 
negro  opened  his  eyes  and  mouth  to  the  fullest  extent, 
let  fall  the  spades,  and  fell  upon  his  knees. 

"  You  scoundrel,"  said  Legrand,  hissing  out  the  sylla- 
bles from  between  his  clinched  teeth,  —  "  you  infernal 
black  villain  !  —  speak,  I  tell  you  !  —  answer  me  this 
instant,  without  prevarication  !  —  which  —  which  is  your 
left  eye  ?  " 

"  O,  my  golly,  Massa  Will !  aint  dis  here  my  lef  eye 
for  sartin  ? "  roared  the  terrified  Jupiter,  placing  his 
hand  upon  his  right  organ  of  vision,  and  holding  it 
there  with  a  desperate  pertinacity,  as  if  in  immediate 
dread  of  his  master's  attempt  at  a  gouge. 

"  I  thought  so  !  —  I  knew  it !  hurrah  !  "  vociferated 
Legrand,  letting  the  negro  go,  and  executing  a  series  of 
curvets  and  caracoles,  much  to  the  astonishment  of  his 
valet,  who,  arising  from  his  knees,  looked,  mutely,  from 
his  master  to  myself,  and  then  from  myself  to  his  master. 

"  Come !  we  must  go  back,"  said  the  latter,  "  the 
game's  not  up  yet."  And  he  again  led  the  way  to  the 
tulip-tree. 

"  Jupiter,"  said  he,  when  we  reached  its  foot,  "  come 
here !  Was  the  skull  nailed  to  the  limb  with  the  face 
outwards,  or  with  the  face  to  the  limb  ?  " 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  31 

"  De  face  was  out,  massa,  so  dat  de  crows  could  get 
at  de  eyes  good,  widout  any  trouble." 

"  Well,  then,  was  it  this  eye  or  that  through  which 
you  dropped  the  beetle  ?  "  —  here  Legrand  touched  each 
of  Jupiter's  eyes. 

"  'Twas  dis  eye,  massa,  —  de  lef  eye,  — jis  as  you  tell 
me,"  and  here  it  was  his  right  eye  that  the  negro  indicated. 

"  That  will  do,  —  we  must  try  it  again." 

Here  my  friend,  about  whose  madness  I  now  saw,  or 
fancied  that  I  saw,  certain  indications  of  method,  re- 
moved the  peg  which  marked  the  spot  where  the  beetle 
fell,  to  a  spot  about  three  inches  to  the  westward  of  its 
former  position.  Taking,  now,  the  tape-measure  from 
the  nearest  point  of  the  trunk  to  the  peg,  as  before, 
and  continuing  the  extension  in  a  straight  line  to  the 
distance  of  fifty  feet,  a  spot  was  indicated,  removed,  by 
several  yards,  from  the  point  at  which  we  had  been 
digging. 

Around  the  new  position  a  circle,  somewhat  larger 
than  in  the  former  instance,  was  now  described,  and  we 
again  set  to  work  with  the  spades.  I  was  dreadfully 
weary,  but,  scarcely  understanding  what  had  occasioned 
the  change  in  my  thoughts,  I  felt  no  longer  any  great 
aversion  from  the  labor  imposed.  I  had  become  most 
unaccountably  interested,  —  nay,  even  excited.  Perhaps 
there  was  something,  amid  all  the  extravagant  demeanor 
of  Legrand,  —  some  air  of  forethought,  or  of  delibera- 
tion, —  which  impressed  me.  I  dug  eagerly,  and  now 
and  then  caught  myself  actually  looking,  with  something 
that  very  much  resembled  expectation,  for  the  fancied 
treasure,  the  vision  of  which  had  demented  my  unfortu- 


32  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

nate  companion.  At  a  period  when  such  vagaries  of 
thought  most  fully  possessed  me,  and  when  we  had  been 
at  work  perhaps  an  hour  and  a  half,  we  were  again  inter- 
rupted by  the  violent  howlings  of  the  dog.  His  uneasi- 
ness, in  the  first  instance,  had  been,  evidently,  but  the 
result  of  playfulness  or  caprice,  but  he  now  assumed  a 
bitter  and  serious  tone.  Upon  Jupiter's  again  attempt- 
ing to  muzzle  him,  he  made  furious  resistance,  and, 
leaping  into  the  hole,  tore  up  the  mould  frantically  with 
his  claws.  In  a  few  seconds  he  had  uncovered  a  mass 
of  human  bones,  forming  two  complete  skeletons,  inter- 
mingled with  several  buttons  of  metal,  and  what  ap- 
peared to  be  the  dust  of  decayed  woollen.  One  or  two 
strokes  of  a  spade  upturned  the  blade  of  a  large  Spanish 
knife,  and,  as  we  dug  farther,  three  or  four  loose  pieces 
of  gold  and  silver  coin  came  to  light. 

At  sight  of  these,  the  joy  of  Jupiter  could  scarcely  be 
restrained,  but  the  countenance  of  his  master  wore  an 
air  of  extreme  disappointment.  He  urged  us,  however, 
to  continue  our  exertions,  and  the  words  were  hardly 
uttered,  when  I  stumbled  and  fell  forward,  having  caught 
the  toe  of  my  boot  in  a  large  ring  of  iron  that  lay  half 
buried  in  the  loose  earth. 

We  now  worked  in  earnest,  and  never  did  I  pass  ten 
minutes  of  more  intense  excitement.  During  this  inter- 
val we  had  fairly  unearthed  an  oblong  chest  of  wood, 
which,  from  its  perfect  preservation  and  wonderful 
hardness,  had  plainly  been  subjected  to  some  mineraliz- 
ing process,  —  perhaps  that  of  the  bichloride  of  mer- 
cury. This  box  was  three  feet  and  a  half  long,  three 
feet  broad,  and  two  and  a  half  feet  deep.  It  was  firmly 


• 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  33 

secured  by  bands  of  wrought-iron,  riveted,  and  forming 
a  kind  of  open  trellis-work  over  the  whole.  On  each 
side  of  the  chest,  near  the  top,  were  three  rings  of  iron, 
—  six  in  all,  —  by  means  of  which  a  firm  hold  could  be 
obtained  by  six  persons.  Our  utmost  united  endeavors 
served  only  to  disturb  the  coffer  very  slightly  in  its  bed. 
We  at  once  saw  the  impossibility  of  removing  so  great 
a  weight.  Luckily,  the  sole  fastenings  of  the  lid  con- 
sisted of  two  sliding  bolts.  These  we  drew  back, — 
trembling  and  panting  with  anxiety.  In  an  instant,  a 
treasure  of  incalculable  value  lay  gleaming  before  us. 
As  the  rays  of  the  lanterns  fell  within  the  pit,  there 
flashed  upwards  a  glow  and  a  glare,  from  a  confused 
heap  of  gold  and  of  jewels,  that  absolutely  dazzled  our 
eyes. 

I  shall  not  pretend  to  describe  the  feelings  with  which 
I  gazed.  Amazement  was,  of  course,  predominant.  Le- 
grand  appeared  exhausted  with  excitement,  and  spoke 
very  few  words.  Jupiter's  countenance  wore,  for  some 
minutes,  as  deadly  a  pallor  as  it  is  possible,  in  the  na- 
ture of  things,  for  any  negro's  visage  to  assume.  He 
seemed  stupefied,  —  thunder-stricken.  Presently  he  fell 
upon  his  knees  in  the  pit,  and,  burying  his  naked  arms 
up  to  the  elbows  in  gold,  let  them  there  remain,  as  if 
enjoying  the  luxury  of  a  bath.  At  length,  with  a  deep 
sigh,  he  exclaimed,  as  if  in  a  soliloquy,  — 

"  And  dis  all  cum  ob  de  goole-bug !  de  putty  goole- 
bug!  de  poor  little  goole-bug,  what  I  boosed  in  dat 
sabage  kind  ob  style !  Aint  you  shamed  ob  yourself,  nig- 
ger ?  —  answer  me  dat !  " 

It  became  necessary,  at  last,  that  I  should  arouse  both 
2*  a 


34  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

master  and  valet  to  the  expediency  of  removing  the 
treasure.  It  was  growing  late,  and  it  behooved  us  to 
make  exertion,  that  we  might  get  everything  housed 
before  daylight.  It  was  difficult  to  say  what  should  be 
done,  and  much  time  was  spent  in  deliberation,  —  so 
confused  were  the  ideas  of  all.  We  finally  lightened 
the  box  by  removing  two  thirds  of  its  contents,  when  we 
were  enabled,  with  some  trouble,  to  raise  it  from  the 
hole.  The  articles  taken  out  were  deposited  among  the 
brambles,  and  the  dog  left  to  guard  them,  with  strict 
orders  from  Jupiter  neither,  upon  any  pretence,  to  stir 
from  the  spot,  nor  to  open  his  mouth  until  our  return. 
We  then  hurriedly  made  for  home  with  the  chest ;  reach- 
ing the  hut  in  safety,  but  after  excessive  toil,  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Worn  out  as  we  were,  it  was 
not  in  human  nature  to  do  more  immediately.  We 
rested  until  two,  and  had  supper ;  starting  for  the  hills 
immediately  afterwards,  armed  with  three  stout  sacks, 
which,  by  good  luck,  were  upon  the  premises.  A  little 
before  four  we  arrived  at  the  pit,  divided  the  remainder 
of  the  booty,  as  equally  as  might  be,  among  us,  and, 
leaving  the  holes  unfilled,  again  set  out  for  the  hut,  at 
which,  for  the  second  time,  we  deposited  our  golden 
burdens,  just  as  the  first  faint  streaks  of  the  dawn  gleamed 
from  over  the  tree-tops  in  the  east. 

We  were  now  thoroughly  broken  down ;  but  the  in- 
tense excitement  of  the  time  denied  us  repose.  After  an 
unquiet  slumber  of  some  three  or  four  hours'  duration, 
we  arose,  as  if  by  preconcert,  to  make  examination  of 
our  treasure. 

The  chest  had  been  full  to  the  brim,  and  we  spent  the 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  35 

whole  day  and  the  greater  part  of  the  next  night  in  a 
scrutiny  of  its  contents.  There  had  been  nothing  like 
order  or  arrangement.  Everything  had  been  heaped  in 
promiscuously.  Having  assorted  all  with  care,  we  found 
ourselves  possessed  of  even  vaster  wealth  than  we  had 
at  first  supposed.  In  coin  there  was  rather  more  than 
four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  —  estimating 
the  value  of  the  pieces,  as  accurately  as  we  could,  by 
the  tables  of  the  period.  There  was  not  a  particle  of 
silver.  All  was  gold  of  antique  date  and  of  great  va- 
riety, —  French,  Spanish,  and  German  money,  with  a 
few  English  guineas,  and  some  counters,  of  which  we 
had  never  seen  specimens  before.  There  were  several 
very  large  and  heavy  coins,  so  worn  that  we  could  make 
nothing  of  their  inscriptions.  There  was  no  American 
money.  The  value  of  the  jewels  we  found  more  diffi- 
culty in  estimating.  There  were  diamonds,  —  some  of 
them  exceedingly  large  and  fine,  —  a  hundred  and  ten 
in  all,  and  not  one  of  them  small ;  eighteen  rubies  of  re- 
markable brilliancy ;  three  hundred  and  ten  emeralds, 
all  very  beautiful;  and  twenty-one  sapphires,  with  an 
opal.  These  stones  had  all  been  broken  from  their  set- 
tings and  thrown  loose  in  the  chest.  The  settings  them- 
selves, which  we  picked  out  from  among  the  other  gold, 
appeared  to  have  been  beaten  up  with  hammers,  as  if  to 
prevent  identification.  Besides  all  this,  there  was  a  vast 
quantity  of  solid  gold  ornaments ;  —  nearly  two  hundred 
massive  finger  and  ear  rings ;  —  rich  chains,  —  thirty  of 
these,  if  I  remember ;  —  eighty -three  very  large  and 
heavy  crucifixes ;  —  five  gold  censers  of  great  value ;  — 
a  prodigious  golden  punch-bowl,  ornamented  with  richly 


36  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

chased  vine-leaves  and  Bacchanalian  figures;  with  two 
sword-handles  exquisitely  embossed,  and  many  other 
smaller  articles  which  I  cannot  recollect.  The  weight 
of  these  valuables  exceeded  three  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  avoirdupois ;  and  in  this  estimate  I  have  not 
included  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  superb  gold 
watches;  three  of  the  number  being  worth  each  five 
hundred  dollars,  if  one.  Many  of  them  were  very  old, 
and  as  time-keepers  valueless ;  the  works  having  suf- 
fered, more  or  less,  from  corrosion,  —  but  all  were  richly 
jewelled  and  in  cases  of  great  worth.  We  estimated  the 
entire  contents  of  the  chest,  that  night,  at  a  million  and 
a  half  of  dollars ;  and,  upon  the  subsequent  disposal  of 
the  trinkets  and  jewels  (a  few  being  retained  for  our  own 
use),  it  was  found  that  we  had  greatly  undervalued  the 
treasure. 

When,  at  length,  we  had  concluded  our  examination, 
and  the  intense  excitement  of  the  time  had  in  some 
measure  subsided,  Legrand,  who  saw  that  I  was  dying 
with  impatience  for  a  solution  of  this  most  extraordinary 
riddle,  entered  into  a  full  detail  of  all  the  circumstances 
connected  with  it. 

"  You  remember,"  said  he,  "  the  night  when  I  handed 
you  the  rough  sketch  I  had  made  of  the  scarabceus.  You 
recollect,  also,  that  I  became  quite  vexed  at  you  for  in- 
sisting that  my  drawing  resembled  a  death's-head.  When 
you  first  made  this  assertion  I  thought  you  were  jesting ; 
but  afterwards  I  called  to  mind  the  peculiar  spots  on 
the  back  of  the  insect,  and  admitted  to  myself  that  your 
remark  had  some  little  foundation  in  fact.  Still,  the 
sneer  at  my  graphic  powers  irritated  me,  —  for  I  am 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  37 

considered  a  good  artist,  —  and,  therefore,  when  you 
handed  me  the  scrap  of  parchment,  I  was  about  to 
crumple  it  up  and  throw  it  angrily  into  the  fire." 

"  The  scrap  of  paper,  you  mean,"  said  I. 

"  No ;  it  had  much  of  the  appearance  of  paper,  and 
at  first  I  supposed  it  to  be  such,  but  when  I  came  to 
draw  upon  it,  I  discovered  it,  at  once,  to  be  a  piece  of 
very  thin  parchment.  It  was  quite  dirty,  you  remember. 
Well,  as  I  was  in  the  very  act  of  crumpling  it  up,  my 
glance  fell  upon  the  sketch  at  which  you  had  been  look- 
ing, and  you  may  imagine  my  astonishment  when  I  per- 
ceived, in  fact,  the  figure  of  a  death's-head  just  where,  it 
seemed  to  me,  I  had  made  the  drawing  of  the  beetle. 
For  a  moment  I  was  too  much  amazed  to  think  with 
accuracy.  I  knew  that  my  design  was  very  different  in 
-detail  from  this,  — although  there  was  a  certain  similar- 
ity hi  general  outline.  Presently  I  took  a  candle,  and 
seating  myself  at  the  other  end  of  the  room,  proceeded 
to  scrutinize  the  parchment  more  closely.  Upon  turning 
it  over,  I  saw  my  own  sketch  upon  the  reverse,  just  as 
I  had  made  it.  My  first  idea,  now,  was  mere  surprise 
at  the  really  remarkable  similarity  of  outline,  —  at  the 
singular  coincidence  involved  in  the  fact  that,  unknown 
to  me,  there  should  have  been  a  skull  upon  the  other 
side  of  the  parchment,  immediately  beneath  my  figure 
of  the  scarabaus,  and  that  his  skull,  not  only  in  outline, 
but  in  size,  should  so  closely  resemble  my  drawing.  I 
say  the  singularity  of  this  coincidence  absolutely  stupe- 
fied me  for  a  time.  This  is  the  usual  effect  of  such  co- 
incidences. The  mind  struggles  to  establish  a  connection, 
—  a  sequence  of  cause  and  effect,  —  and,  being  unable 


38  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

to  do  so,  suffers  a  species  of  temporary  paralysis.  But, 
when  I  recovered  from  this  stupor,  there  dawned  upon 
me  gradually  a  conviction  which  startled  me  even  far 
more  than  the  coincidence.  I  began  distinctly,  positively, 
to  remember  that  there  had  been  no  drawing  upon  the 
parchment  when  I  made  my  sketch  of  the  scarabeeus. 
I  became  perfectly  certain  of  this;  for  I  recollected 
turning  up  first  one  side  and  then  the  other,  in  search 
of  the  cleanest  spot.  Had  the  skull  been  there  then,  of 
course  I  could  not  have  failed  to  notice  it.  Here  was 
indeed  a  mystery  which  I  felt  it  impossible  to  explain ; 
but,  even  at  that  early  moment,  there  seemed  to  glimmer, 
faintly,  within  the  most  remote  and  secret  chambers  of 
my  intellect,  a  glow-worm-like  conception  of  that  truth 
which  last  night's  adventure  brought  to  so  magnificent 
a  demonstration.  I  arose  at  once,  and  putting  the 
parchment  securely  away,  dismissed  all  further  reflection 
until  I  should  be  alone. 

"When  you  had  gone,  and  when  Jupiter  was  fast 
asleep,  I  betook  myself  to  a  more  methodical  investiga- 
tion of  the  affair.  In  the  first  place  I  considered  the 
manner  in  which  the  parchment  had  come  into  my  pos- 
session. The  spot  where  we  discovered  the  scarabeeus 
was  on  the  coast  of  the  mainland,  about  a  mile  east- 
ward of  the  island,  and  but  a  short  distance  above  high- 
water  mark.  Upon  my  taking  hold  of  it,  it  gave  me 
a  sharp  bite,  which  caused  me  to  let  it  drop.  Jupiter, 
with  his  accustomed  caution,  before  seizing  the  insect, 
which  had  flown  towards  him,  looked  about  him  for  a 
leaf,  or  something  of  that  nature,  by  which  to  take  hold 
of  it.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  his  eyes,  and  mine 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  89 

also,  fell  upon  the  scrap  of  parchment,  which  I  then  sup- 
posed to  be  paper.  It  was  lying  half  buried  in  the  sand, 
a  corner  sticking  up.  Near  the  spot  where  we  found  it 
I  observed  the  remnants  of  the  hull  of  what  appeared  to 
have  been  a  ship's  long-boat.  The  wreck  seemed  to 
have  been  there  for  a  very  great  while ;  for  the  resem- 
blance to  boat  timbers  could  scarcely  be  traced. 

"  Well,  Jupiter  picked  up  the  parchment,  wrapped 
the  beetle  in  it,  and  gave  it  to  me.  Soon  afterwards  we 
turned  to  go  home,  and  on  the  way  met  Lieutenant 

G .  I  showed  him  the  insect,  and  he  begged  me  to  let 

him  take  it  to  the  fort.  Upon  my  consenting,  he  thrust 
it  forthwith  into  his  waistcoat-pocket,  without  the  parch- 
ment in  which  it  had  been  wrapped,  and  which  I  had 
continued  to  hold  in  my  hand  during  his  inspection. 
Perhaps  he  dreaded  my  changing  my  mind,  and  thought 
it  best  to  make  sure  of  the  prize  at  once,  —  you  know 
how  enthusiastic  he  is  on  all  subjects  connected  with 
Natural  History.  At  the  same  time,  without  being  con- 
scious of  it,  I  must  have  deposited  the  parchment  in  my 
own  pocket. 

"  You  remember  that  when  I  went  to  the  table,  for 
the  purpose  of  making  a  sketch  of  the  beetle,  I  found 
no  paper  where  it  was  usually  kept.  I  looked  in  the 
drawer,  and  found  none  there.  I  searched  my  pockets, 
hoping  to  find  an  old  letter,  when  my  hand  fell  upon  the 
parchment.  I  thus  detail  the  precise  mode  in  which  it 
came  into  my  possession ;  for  the  circumstances  impressed 
me  with  peculiar  force. 

"  No  doubt  you  will  think  me  fanciful,  —  but  I  had 
already  established  a  kind  of  connection,  I  had  put 


40  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

together  two  links  of  a  great  chain.  There  was  a  boat 
lying  upon  a  sea-coast,  and  not  far  from  the  boat  was  a 
parchment  —  not  a  paper — with  a  skull  depicted  upon 
it.  You  will,  of  course,  ask,  '  Where  is  the  connection  ? ' 
I  reply  that  the  skull,  or  death's-head,  is  the  well-known 
emblem  of  the  pirate.  Th«  flag  of  the  death's-head  is 
hoisted  in  all  engagements. 

"  I  have  said  that  the  scrap  was  parchment,  and  not 
paper.  Parchment  is  durable,  —  almost  imperishable. 
Matters  of  little  moment  are  rarely  consigned  to  parch- 
ment ;  since,  for  the  mere  ordinary  purposes  of  drawing 
or  writing,  it  is  not  nearly  so  well  adapted  as  paper. 
This  reflection  suggested  some  meaning  —  some  rele- 
vancy —  in  the  death's-head.  I  did  not  fail  to  observe, 
also,  the  form  of  the  parchment.  Although  one  of  its 
corners  had  been,  by  some  accident,  destroyed,  it  could 
be  seen  that  the  original  form  was  oblong.  It  was  just 
such  a  slip,  indeed,  as  might  have  been  chosen  for  a 
memorandum,  —  for  a  record  of  something  to  be  long 
remembered  and  carefully  preserved." 

"  But,"  I  interposed,  "  you  say  that  the  skull  was  not 
upon  the  parchment  when  you  made  the  drawing  of  the 
beetle.  How  then  do  you  trace  any  connection  between 
the  boat  and  the  skull,  —  since  this  latter,  according  to 
your  own  admission,  must  have  been  designed  (God  only 
knows  how  or  by  whom)  at  some  period  subsequent  to 
your  sketching  the  scarabeeus  ?  " 

"Ah,  hereupon  turns  the  whole  mystery;  although 
the  secret,  at  this  point,  I  had  comparatively  little  diffi- 
culty in  solving.  My  steps  were  sure,  and  could  afford 
but  a  single  result.  I  reasoned,  for  example,  thus: 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  41 

When  I  drew  the  scarab&us,  there  was  no  skull  apparent 
upon  the  parchment.  When  I  had  completed  the  draw- 
ing I  gave  it  to  you,  and  observed  you  narrowly  until 
you  returned  it.  You,  therefore,  did  not  design  the 
skull,  and  no  one  else  was  present  to  do  it.  Then  it  was 
not  done  by  human  agency.  And  nevertheless  it  was 
done. 

"At  this  stage  of  my  reflections  I  endeavored  to 
remember,  and  did  remember,  with  entire  distinctness, 
every  incident  which  occurred  about  the  period  in  ques- 
tion. The  weather  was  chilly,  (0  rare  and  happy  acci- 
dent !)  and  a  fire  was  blazing  upon  the  hearth.  I  was 
heated  with  exercise,  and  sat  near  the  table.  You,  how- 
ever, had  drawn  a  chair  close  to  the  chimney.  Just  as  I 
placed  the  parchment  in  your  hand,  and  as  you  were  in 
the  act  of  inspecting  it,  Wolf,  the  Newfoundland,  entered, 
and  leaped  upon  your  shoulders.  With  your  left  hand 
you  caressed  him  and  kept  him  off,  while  your  right, 
holding  the  parchment,  was  permitted  to  fall  listlessly 
between  your  knees,  and  in  close  proximity  to  the  fire. 
At  one  moment  I  thought  the  blaze  had  caught  it,  and 
was  about  to  caution  you,  but,  before  I  could  speak,  you 
had  withdrawn  it,  and  were  engaged  in  its  examination. 
When  I  considered  all  these  particulars,  I  doubted  not 
for  a  moment  that  heat  had  been  the  agent  in  bringing 
to  light,  upon  the  parchment,  the  skull  which  I  saw 
designed  upon  it.  You  are  well  aware  that  chemical 
preparations  exist,  and  have  existed  time  out  of  mind,  by 
means  of  which  it  is  possible  to  write  upon  either  paper 
or  vellum,  so  that  the  characters  shall  become  visible  only 
when  subjected  to  the  action  of  fire.  Zaffre,  digested  in 


42  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

aqua  regia,  and  diluted  with  four  times  its  weight  of 
Water,  is  sometimes  employed;  a  green  tint  results.  The 
regulus  of  cobalt,  dissolved  in  spirit  of  nitre,  gives  a  red. 
These  colors  disappear  at  longer  or  shorter  intervals  after 
the  material  written  upon  cools,  but  again  become  ap- 
parent upon  the  re-application  of  heat. 

"  I  now  scrutinized  the  death's-head  with  care.  Its 
outer  edges  —  the  edges  of  the  drawing  nearest  the  edge 
of  the  vellum  —  were  far  more  distinct  than  the  others. 
It  was  clear  that  the  action  of  the  caloric  had  been  im- 
perfect or  unequal.  I  immediately  kindled  a  fire,  and 
subjected  every  portion  of  the  parchment  to  a  glowing 
heat.  At  first,  the  only  effect  was  the  strengthening  of 
the  faint  lines  in  the  skull ;  but,  upon  persevering  in  the 
experiment,  there  became  visible,  at  the  corner  of  the 
slip,  diagonally  opposite  to  the  spot  in  which  the  death's- 
head  was  delineated,  the  figure  of  what  I  at  first  supposed 
to  be  a  goat.  A  closer  scrutiny,  however,  satisfied  me 
that  it  was  intended  for  a  kid." 

"  Ha !  ha !  "  said  I,  "  to  be  sure  I  have  no  right  to 
laugh  at  you,  —  a  million  and  a  half  of  money  is  too 
serious  a  matter  for  mirth,  —  but  you  are  not  about  to 
establish  a  third  link  in  your  chain,  —  you  will  not  find 
any  especial  connection  between  your  pirates  and  a  goat, 
—  pirates,  you  know,  have  nothing  to  do  with  goats; 
they  appertain  to  the  farming  interest." 

"  But  I  have  just  said  that  the  figure  was  not  that  of  a 
goat." 

"  Well,  a  kid  then,  —  pretty  much  the  same  thing." 

"  Pretty  much,  but  not  altogether,"  said  Legrand. 
"  You  may  have  heard  of  one  Captain  Kidd.  I  at  once 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  43 

looked  upon  the  figure  of  the  animal  as  a  kind  of  punning 
or  hieroglyphical  signature.  I  say  signature ;  because 
its  position  upon  the  vellum  suggested  this  idea.  The 
death's-head  at  the  corner  diagonally  opposite  had,  in 
the  same  manner,  the  air  of  a  stamp,  or  seal.  But  I  was 
sorely  put  out  by  the  absence  of  all  else  —  of  the  body 
to  my  imagined  instrument  —  of  the  text  for  my  con- 
text." 

"  I  presume  you  expected  to  find  a  letter  between  the 
stamp  and  the  signature." 

"  Something  of  that  kind.  The  fact  is,  I  felt  irresisti- 
bly impressed  with  a  presentiment  of  some  vast  good 
fortune  impending.  I  can  scarcely  say  why.  Perhaps, 
after  all,  it  was  rather  a  desire  than  an  actual  belief;  — 
but  do  you  know  that  Jupiter's  silly  words,  about  the 
bug  being  of  solid  gold,  had  a  remarkable  effect  upon  my 
fancy  ?  And  then  the  series  of  accidents  and  coinci- 
dences, —  these  were  so  very  extraordinary.  Do  you 
observe  how  mere  an  accident  it  was  that  these  events 
should  have  occurred  upon  the  sole  day  of  all  the  year  in 
which  it  has  been,  or  may  be,  sufficiently  cool  for  fire, 
and  that  without  the  fire,  or  without  the  intervention  of 
the  dog  at  the  precise  moment  in  which  he  appeared,  I 
should  never  have  become  aware  of  the  death's-head,  and 
so  never  the  possessor  of  the  treasure  ?  " 

"  But  proceed,  —  I  am  all  impatience." 

"Well;  you  have  heard,  of  course,  the  many  stories 
current,  —  the  thousand  vague  rumors  afloat  about  money 
buried,  somewhere  upon  the  Atlantic  coast,  by  Kidd  and 
his  associates.  These  rumors  must  have  had  some  foun- 
dation in  fact.  And  that  the  rumors  have  existed  so 


44  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

long  and  so  continuously  could  have  resulted,  it  appeared 
to  me,  only  from  the  circumstance  of  the  buried  treasure 
still  remaining  entombed.  Had  Kidd  concealed  his  plun- 
der for  a  time,  and  afterwards  reclaimed  it,  the  rumors 
would  scarcely  have  reached  us  in  their  present  unvary- 
ing form.  You  will  observe  that  the  stories  told  are  all 
about  money-seekers,  not  about  money-finders.  Had  the 
pirate  recovered  his  money,  there  the  affair  would  have 
dropped.  It  seemed  to  me  that  some  accident  —  say  the 
loss  of  a  memorandum  indicating  its  locality  —  had  de- 
prived him  of  the  means  of  recovering  it,  and  that  this 
accident  had  become  known  to  his  followers,  who  other- 
wise might  never  have  heard  that  treasure  had  been 
concealed  at  all,  and  who,  busying  themselves  in  vain, 
because  unguided,  attempts  to  regain  it,  had  given  first 
birth,  and  then  universal  currency,  to  the  reports  which 
are  now  so  common.  Have  you  ever  heard  of  any  im- 
portant treasure  being  unearthed  along  the  coast  ?  " 

"Never." 

"  But  that  Kidd's  accumulations  were  immense,  is  well 
known.  I  took  it  for  granted,  therefore,  that  the  earth 
still  held  them ;  and  you  will  scarcely  be  surprised  when 
I  tell  you  that  I  felt  a  hope,  nearly  amounting  to  cer- 
tainty, that  the  parchment  so  strangely  found,  involved 
a  lost  record  of  the  place  of  deposit." 

"  But  how  did  you  proceed  ?  " 

"  I  held  the  vellum  again  to  the  fire,  after  increasing 
the  heat ;  but  nothing  appeared.  I  now  thought  it  pos- 
sible that  the  coating  of  dirt  might  have  something  to 
do  with  the  failure ;  so  I  carefully  rinsed  the  parchment 
by  pouring  warm  water  over  it,  and,  having  done  this,  I 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  45 

placed  it  in  a  tin  pan,  with  the  skull  downwards,  and  put 
the  pan  upon  a  furnace  of  lighted  charcoal.  In  a  few 
minutes,  the  pan  having  become  thoroughly  heated,  I 
removed  the  slip,  and,  to  my  inexpressible  joy,  found  it 
spotted,  in  several  places,  with  what  appeared  to  be 
figures  arranged  in  lines.  Again  I  placed  it  in  the  pan, 
and  suffered  it  to  remain  another  minute.  Upon  taking 
it  off,  the  whole  was  just  as  you  see  it  now." 

Here  Legrand,  having  re-heated  the  parchment,  sub- 
mitted it  to  my  inspection.  The  following  characters 
were  rudely  traced,  in  a  red  tint,  between  the  death's-head 
and  the  goat:  — 

53ttt305j)6*;4826)4t.)4|);806*;48t81[60))85;li(;:i*8t83 
(88)5*t;46(;88*96*?;8)*i(;485);5*t2:*i(;4956*2(5*— 4)8^8* 
;4069285);)  6t8)4J{  ;l(i9;48081;8:8il;48t85;4)485t528806* 
81(t9;48;(88;4(t?34;48)4t;161;:188;+?; 

"  But,"  said  I,  returning  him  the  slip,  "  I  am  as  much 
in  the  dark  as  ever.  Were  all  the  jewels  of  Golconda 
awaiting  me  upon  my  solution  of  this  enigma,  I  am 
quite  sure  that  I  should  be  unable  to  earn  them." 

"  And  yet,"  said  Legrand,  "  the  solution  is  by  no 
means  so  difficult  as  you  might  be  led  to  imagine  from 
the  first  hasty  inspection  of  the  characters.  These  char- 
acters, as  any  one  might  readily  guess,  form  a  cipher,  — 
that  is  to  say,  they  convey  a  meaning ;  but  then,  from 
what  is  known  of  Kidd,  I  could  not  suppose  him  capable 
of  constructing  any  of  the  more  abstruse  cryptographs. 
I  made  up  my  mind,  at  once,  that  this  was  of  a  simple 
species,  —  such,  however,  as  would  appear,  to  the  crude 
intellect  of  the  sailor,  absolutely  insoluble  without  the 
key." 


46  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

"  And  you  really  solved  it  ?  " 

"  Readily ;  I  have  solved  others  of  an  abstruseness  ten 
thousand  times  greater.  Circumstances,  and  a  certain 
bias  of  mind,  have  led  me  to  take  interest  in  such 
riddles,  and  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  human  in- 
genuity can  construct  an  enigma  of  the  kind  which  human 
ingenuity  may  not,  by  proper  application,  resolve.  In 
fact,  having  once  established  connected  and  legible  char- 
acters, I  scarcely  gave  a  thought  to  the  mere  difficulty  of 
developing  their  import. 

"  In  the  present  case  —  indeed  in  all  cases  of  secret 
writing  —  the  first  question  regards  the  language  of  the 
cipher ;  for  the  principles  of  solution,  so  far,  especially, 
as  the  more  simple  ciphers  are  concerned,  depend  upon, 
and  are  varied  by,  the  genius  of  the  particular  idiom. 
In  general,  there  is  no  alternative  but  experiment  (di- 
rected by  probabilities),  of  every  tongue  known  to  him 
who  attempts  the  solution,  until  the  true  one  be  attained. 
But,  with  the  cipher  now  before  us,  all  difficulty  was 
removed  by  the  signature.  The  pun  upon  the  word 
'  Kidd '  is  appreciable  in  no  other  language  than  the  Eng- 
lish. But  for  this  consideration  I  should  have  begun  my 
attempts  with  the  Spanish  and  French,  as  the  tongues  in 
which  a  secret  of  this  kind  would  most  naturally  have 
been  written  by  a  pirate  of  the  Spanish  main.  As  it 
was,  I  assumed  the  cryptograph  to  be  English. 

"You  observe  there  are  no  divisions  between  the 
words.  Had  there  been  divisions,  the  task  would  have 
been  comparatively  easy.  In  such  case  I  should  have 
commenced  with  a  collation  and  analysis  of  the  shorter 
words,  and,  had  a  word  of  a  single  letter  occurred,  as  is 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  47 

most  likely  (a  or  I,  for  example),  I  should  have  consid- 
ered the  solution  as  assured.  But,  there  being  no  di- 
vision, my  first  step  was  to  ascertain  the  predominant 
letters,  as  well  as  the  least  frequent.  Counting  all,  I 
constructed  a  table,  thus : 

Of  the  character  8  there  are  33. 
;        "        26. 

4  "        19. 

t  )  "  16. 

*  "  13. 

5  "  12. 

6  "  11. 
t  1  8. 

0        "  6. 

92"  5. 

:  3  4. 

?        "  3. 

11        "  2. 

«  1 

•  -L  . 

"Now,  in  English,  the  letter  which  most  frequently 
occurs  is  e.  Afterwards,  the  succession  runs  thus  :  a  o  i 
dhnrstuy  cf  glmwbkpqxz.  E  predominates 
so  remarkably  that  an  individual  sentence  of  any  length 
is  rarely  seen,  in  which  it  is  not  the  prevailing  character. 

"  Here,  then,  we  have,  in  the  very  beginning,  the  ground- 
work for  something  more  than  a  mere  guess.  The  general 
use  which  may  be  made  of  the  table  is  obvious ;  but,  in 
this  particular  cipher,  we  shall  only  very  partially  require 
its  aid.  As  our  predominant  character  is  8,  we  will  com- 
mence by  assuming  it  as  the  e  of  the  natural  alphabet. 
To  verify  the  supposition,  let  us  observe  if  the  8  be  seen 


48  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

often  in  couples,  —  for  e  is  doubled  with  great  frequency 
in  English,  —  in  such  words,  for  example,  as  '  meet,' 
'fleet,'  'speed,'  'seen,'  'been,'  'agree,'  etc.  In  the  pres- 
ent instance  we  see  it  doubled  no  less  than  five  times, 
although  the  cryptograph  is  brief. 

"  Let  us  assume  8,  then,  as  e.  Now,  of  all  words  in 
the  language,  '  the '  is  most  usual ;  let  us  see,  there- 
fore, whether  there  are  not  repetitions  of  any  three  char- 
acters, in  the  same  order  of  collocation,  the  last  of  them 
being  8.  If  we  discover  repetitions  of  such  letters,  so 
arranged,  they  will  most  probably  represent  the  word 
'  the.'  Upon  inspection,  we  find  no  less  than  seven  such 
arrangements,  the  characters  being  ;48.  We  may,  there- 
fore, assume  that  ;  represents  t,  4  represents  h,  and  8 
represents  e,  —  the  last  being  now  well  confirmed.  Thus 
a  great  step  has  been  taken. 

"  But,  having  established  a  single  word,  we  are  enabled 
to  establish  a  vastly  important  point ;  that  is  to  say,  sev- 
eral commencements  and  terminations  of  other  words.  Let 
us  refer,  for  example,  to  the  last  instance  but  one,  in  which 
the  combination  ;48  occurs, — not  far  from  the  end  of 
the  cipher.  We  know  that  the  ;  immediately  ensuing 
is  the  commencement  of  a  word,  and,  of  the  six  charac- 
ters succeeding  this  '  the,'  we  are  cognizant  of  no  less 
than  five.  Let  us  set  these  characters  down,  thus,  by 
the  letters  we  know  them  to  represent,  leaving  a  space 
for  the  unknown  — 

t  eeth. 

"  Here  we  are  enabled,  at  once,  to  discard  the  '  t&,'  as 
forming  no  portion  of  the  word  commencing  with  the 
first  t ;  since,  by  experiment  of  the  entire  alphabet  for 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  49 

a  letter  adapted  to  the  vacancy,  we  perceive  that  no  word 
can  be  formed  of  which  this  th  can  be  a  part.  "We  are 
thus  narrowed  into 

t  ee, 

and,  going  through  the  alphabet,  if  necessary,  as  before, 
we  arrive  at  the  word  '  tree,'  as  the  sole  possible  reading. 
We  thus  gain  another  letter,  r,  represented  by  (,  with 
the  words  '  the  tree '  in  juxtaposition. 

"Looking  beyond  these  words,  for  a  short  distance, 
we  again  see  the  combination  ;48,  and  employ  it  by  way 
of  termination  to  what  immediately  precedes.  We  have 
thus  this  arrangement :  — 

the  tree  ;4(J?34  the, 

or,  substituting  the  natural  letters,  where  known,  it  reads 
thus : — 

the  tree  thr+?3h  the. 

"  Now,  if,  in  place  of  the  unknown  characters,  we 
leave  blank  spaces,  or  substitute  dots,  we  read  thus  :  — 

the  tree  thr...h  the, 

when  the  word  '  through '  makes  itself  evident  at  once. 
But  this  discovery  gives  us  three  new  letters,  0,  «,  and  g, 
represented  by  J  ?  and  3. 

"  Looking,  now,  narrowly,  through  the  cipher  for  com- 
binations of  known  characters,  we  find,  not  very  far  from 
the  beginning,  this  arrangement, 

83(88,  or  egree, 

which,  plainly,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  word  '  degree/  and 
gives  us  another  letter,  d,  represented  by  f. 


50  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

"  Four  letters  beyond  the  word  '  degree/  we  perceive 
the  combination 

;46(;88*. 

"  Translating  the  known  characters,  and  representing 
the  unknown  by  dots,  as  before,  we  read  thus  :  — 

th.rtee., 

an  arrangement  immediately  suggestive  of  the  word 
'  thirteen,'  and  again  furnishing  us  with  two  new  charac- 
ters, *  and  n,  represented  by  6  and  *. 

"  Referring,  now,  to  the  beginning  of  the  cryptograph, 
we  find  the  combination, 


"  Translating,  as  before,  we  obtain 
•  good, 

which  assures  us  that  the  first  letter  is  A,  and  that  the 
first  two  words  are  '  A  good.' 

"It  is  now  time  that  we  arrange  our  key,  as  far  as 
discovered,  in  a  tabular  form,   to  avoid  confusion.     It 

will  stand  thus  :  — 

5  represents  a 

t      «      a 

8  "  e 

3  "  g 

4  "  h 

6  "  i 
*  "  n 
%  "  o 
(  "  r 
;  "  t 


THE   GOLD-BUG.  51 

"  We  have,  therefore,  no  less  than  ten  of  the  most  im- 
portant letters  represented,  and  it  will  be  unnecessary 
to  proceed  with  the  details  of  the  solution.  I  have  said 
enough  to  convince  you  that  ciphers  of  this  nature  are 
readily  soluble,  and  to  give  you  some  insight  into  the 
rationale  of  their  development.  But  be  assured  that  the 
specimen  before  us  appertains  to  the  very  simplest  spe- 
cies of  cryptograph.  It  now  only  remains  to  give  you 
the  full  translation  of  the  characters  upon  the  parchment, 
as  unriddled.  Here  it  is  :  — 

" '  A  good  glass  in  the  bishop's  hostel  in  the  devil's  seat 
forty-one  degrees  and  thirteen  minutes  northeast  and  by 
north  main  branch  seventh  limb  east  side  shoot  from  the 
left  eye  of  the  death's-head  a  bee  line  from  the  tree  through 
the  shot  fifty  feet  out.'  " 

"But,"  said  I,  "the  enigma  seems  still  in  as  bad  a 
condition  as  ever.  How  is  it  possible  to  extort  a  mean- 
ing from  all  this  jargon  about  '  devil's  seats,'  '  death's- 
heads,'  and  '  bishop's  hotels  '  ?  " 

"  I  confess,"  replied  Legrand,  "  that  the  matter  still 
wears  a  serious  aspect,  when  regarded  with  a  casual 
glance.  My  first  endeavor  was  to  divide  the  sentence 
into  the  natural  division  intended  by  the  cryptographist." 

"  You  mean,  to  punctuate  it  ?  " 

"  Something  of  that  kind." 

"  But  how  was  it  possible  to  effect  this  ?  " 

"  I  reflected  that  it  had  been  a  point  with  the  writer 
to  run  his  words  together  without  division,  so  as  to  in- 
crease the  difficulty  of  solution.  Now,  a  not  over-acute 
man,  in  pursuing  such  an  object,  would  be  nearly  certain 


52  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

to  overdo  the  matter.  When,  in  the  course  of  his  com- 
position,  he  arrived  at  a  break  in  his  subject  which 
would  naturally  require  a  pause,  or  a  point,  he  would 
be  exceedingly  apt  to  run  his  characters,  at  this  place, 
more  than  usually  close  together.  If  you  will  observe 
the  manuscript  in  the  present  instance,  you  will  easily 
detect  five  such  cases  of  unusual  crowding.  Acting 
upon  this  hint,  I  made  the  division  thus :  — 

"  '  A  good  glass  in  the  Bishop's  hostel  in  the  Devil's  seat 
— forty-one  degrees  and  thirteen  minutes  —  northeast  and 
by  north  —  main  branch  seventh  limb  east  side  —  shoot 
from  the  left  eye  of  the  death's-head  —  a  bee-line  from 
the  tree  through  the  shot  fifty  feet  out'" 

"  Even  this  division,"  said  I,  "  leaves  me  still  in  the 
dark." 

"  It  left  me  also  in  the  dark,"  replied  Legrand,  "  for 
a  few  days ;  during  which  I  made  diligent  inquiry,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Sullivan's  Island,  for  any  building 
which  went  by  the  name  of  the  '  Bishop's  Hotel ' ;  for, 
of  course,  I  dropped  the  obsolete  word  '  hostel.'  Gain- 
ing no  information  on  the  subject,  I  was  on  the  point  of 
extending  my  sphere  of  search,  and  proceeding  in  a  more 
systematic  manner,  when,  one  morning,  it  entered  into 
my  head,  quite  suddenly,  that  this  'Bishop's  Hostel' 
might  have  some  reference  to  an  old  family,  of  the  name 
of  Bessop,  which,  time  out  of  mind,  had  held  possession 
of  an  ancient  manor-house,  about  four  miles  to  the  north- 
ward of  the  island.  I  accordingly  went  over  to  the 
plantation,  and  reinstituted  my  inquiries  among  the 
older  negroes  of  the  place.  At  length  one  of  the  most 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  53 

aged  of  the  women  said  that  she  had  heard  of  such  a 
place  as  JSessop's  Castle,  and  thought  that  she  could 
guide  me  to  it,  but  that  it  was  not  a  castle,  nor  a  tavern, 
but  a  high  rock. 

"  I  offered  to  pay  her  well  for  her  trouble,  and,  after 
some  demur,  she  consented  to  accompany  me  to  the 
spot.  "We  found  it  without  much  difficulty,  when,  dis- 
missing her,  I  proceeded  to  examine  the  place.  The 
'  castle '  consisted  of  an  irregular  assemblage  of  cliffs  and 
rocks,  —  one  of  the  latter  being  quite  remarkable  for 
its  height  as  well  as  for  its  insulated  and  artificial  ap- 
pearance. I  clambered  to  its  apex,  and  then  felt  much 
at  a  loss  as  to  what  should  be  next  done. 

"  While  I  was  busied  in  reflection,  my  eyes  fell  upon 
a  narrow  ledge  in  the  eastern  face  of  the  rock,  perhaps 
a  yard  below  the  summit  upon  which  I  stood.  This 
ledge  projected  about  eighteen  inches,  and  was  not  more 
than  a  foot  wide,  while  a  niche  in  the  cliff  just  above  it 
gave  it  a  rude  resemblance  to  one  of  the  hollow-backed 
chairs  used  by  our  ancestors.  I  made  no  doubt  that 
here  was  the  '  devil's-seat '  alluded  to  in  the  manuscript, 
and  now  I  seemed  to  grasp  the  full  secret. 

"  The  '  good  glass,'  I  knew,  could  have  reference  to 
nothing  but  a  telescope ;  for  the  word  '  glass '  is  rarely 
employed  in  any  other  sense  by  seamen.  Now  here,  I 
at  once  saw,  was  a  telescope  to  be  used,  and  a  definite 
point  of  view,  admitting  no  variation,  from  which  to  use 
it.  Nor  did  I  hesitate  to  believe  that  the  phrases,  '  for- 
ty-one degrees  and  thirteen  minutes,'  and  '  northeast  and 
by  north,'  were  intended  as  directions  for  the  levelling  of 
the  glass.  Greatly  excited  by  these  'discoveries,  I  hur- 


54  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

ried  home,  procured  a  telescope,  and  returned  to  the 
rock. 

"I  let  myself  down  to  the  ledge,  and  found  that  it 
was  impossible  to  retain  a  seat  upon  it  except  in  one 
particular  position.  This  fact  confirmed  my  preconceived 
idea.  I  proceeded  to  use  the  glass.  Of  course,  the 
'  forty-one  degrees  and  thirteen  minutes '  could  allude  to 
nothing  but  elevation  above  the  visible  horizon,  since  the 
horizontal  direction  was  clearly  indicated  by  the  words, 
'northeast  and  by  north.'  This  latter  direction  I  at 
once  established  by  means  of  a  pocket-compass;  then, 
pointing  the  glass  as  nearly  at  an  angle  of  forty-one 
degrees  of  elevation  as  I  could  do  it  by  guess,  I  moved 
it  cautiously  up  or  down,  until  my  attention  was  arrested 
by  a  circular  rift  or  opening  in  the  foliage  of  a  large  tree 
that  overtopped  its  fellows  in  the  distance.  In  the  cen- 
tre of  this  rift  I  perceived  a  white  spot,  but  could  not, 
at  first,  distinguish  what  it  was.  Adjusting  the  focus  of 
the  telescope,  I  again  looked,  and  now  made  it  out  to  be 
a  human  skull. 

"Upon  this  discovery  I  was  so  sanguine  as  to  con- 
sider the  enigma  solved ;  for  the  phrase,  '  main  branch, 
seventh  limb,  east  side/  could  refer  only  to  the  position 
of  the  skull  upon  the  tree,  while  '  shoot  from  the  left  eye 
of  the  death's-head '  admitted,  also,  of  but  one  interpre- 
tation, in  regard  to  a  search  for  buried  treasure.  I  per- 
ceived that  the  design  was  to  drop  a  bullet  from  the  left 
eye  of  the  skull,  and  that  a  bee-line,  or,  in  other  words, 
a  straight  line,  drawn  from  the  nearest  point  of  the 
trunk  through  '  the  shot '  (or  the  spot  where  the  bullet 
fell),  and  thence  extended  to  a  distance  of  fifty  feet, 


THE    GOLD-BUG.  55 

•would  indicate  a  definite  point,  —  and  beneath  this  point 
I  thought  it  at  least  possible  that  a  deposit  of  value  lay 
concealed." 

"All  this,"  I  said,  "is  exceedingly  clear,  and,  al- 
though ingenious,  still  simple  and  explicit.  When  you 
left  the  Bishop's  Hotel,  what  then  ?  " 

"  Why,  having  carefully  taken  the  bearings  of  the  tree, 
I  turned  homewards.  The  instant  that  I  left  '  the  dev- 
il's seat,'  however,  the  circular  rift  vanished ;  nor  could 
I  get  a  glimpse  of  it  afterwards,  turn  as  I  would.  What 
seems  to  me  the  chief  ingenuity  in  this  whole  business 
is  the  fact  (for  repeated  experiment  has  convinced  me  it 
is  a  fact)  that  the  circular  opening  in  question  is  visible 
from  no  other  attainable  point  of  view  than  that  afforded 
by  the  narrow  ledge  upon  the  face  of  the  rock. 

"In  this  expedition  to  the  'Bishop's  Hotel'  I  had 
been  attended  by  Jupiter,  who  had,  no  doubt,  observed, 
for  some  weeks  past,  the  abstraction  of  my  demeanor, 
and  took  especial  care  not  to  leave  me  alone.  But,  on 
the  next  day,  getting  up  very  early,  I  contrived  to  give 
him  the  slip,  and  went  into  the  hills  in  search  of  the 
tree.  After  much  toil  I  found  it.  When  I  came  home 
at  night  my  valet  proposed  to  give  me  a  flogging.  With 
the  rest  of  the  adventure  I  believe  you  are  as  well  ac- 
quainted as  myself." 

"I  suppose,"  said  I,  "you  missed  the  spot,  in  the 
first  attempt  at  digging,  through  Jupiter's  stupidity  in 
letting  the  bug  fall  through  the  right  instead  of  through 
the  left  eye  of  the  skull." 

"  Precisely.  This  mistake  made  a  difference  of  about 
two  inches  and  a  half  in  the  '  shot ',  —  that  is  to  say,  in 


56  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

the  position  of  the  peg  nearest  the  tree ;  and  had  the 
treasure  been  beneath  the  'shot,'  the  error  would  have 
been  of  little  moment ;  but  '  the  shot/  together  with  the 
nearest  point  of  the  tree,  were  merely  two  points  for 
the  establishment  of  a  line  of  direction ;  of  course  the 
error,  however  trivial  in  the  beginning,  increased  as  we 
proceeded  with  the  line,  and  by  the  time  we  had  gone 
fifty  feet  threw  us  quite  off  the  scent.  But  for  my  deep- 
seated  impressions  that  treasure  was  here  somewhere 
actually  buried,  we  might  have  had  all  our  labor  in 
vain." 

"  But  your  grandiloquence,  and  your  conduct  in  swing- 
ing the  beetle,  —  how  excessively  odd  !  I  was  sure  you 
were  mad.  And  why  did  you  insist  upon  letting  fall  the 
bug,  instead  of  a  bullet,  from  the  skull  ?  " 

"  Why,  to  be  frank,  I  felt  somewhat  annoyed  by  your 
evident  suspicions  touching  my  sanity,  and  so  resolved 
to  punish  you  quietly,  in  my  own  way,  by  a  little  bit  of 
sober  mystification.  For  this  reason  I  swung  the  beetle, 
and  for  this  reason  I  let  it  fall  from  the  tree.  An  ob- 
servation of  yours  about  its  great  weight  suggested  the 
latter  idea." 

"  Yes,  I  perceive ;  and  now  there  is  only  one  point 
which  puzzles  me.  What  are  we  to  make  of  the  skele- 
tons found  in  the  hole  ?  " 

"  That  is  a  question  I  am  no  more  able  to  answer  than 
yourself.  There  seems,  however,  only  one  plausible  way 
of  accounting  for  them,  —  and  yet  it  is  dreadful  to  be- 
lieve in  such  atrocity  as  my  suggestion  would  imply.  It 
is  clear  that  Kidd,  —  if  Kidd  indeed  secreted  this  treas- 
ure, which  I  doubt  not,  — it  is  clear  that  he  must  hava 


THE    GOLD-BUG. 


57 


had  assistance  in  the  labor.  But,  this  labor  concluded, 
he  may  have  thought  it  expedient  to  remove  all  partici- 
pants in  his  secret.  Perhaps  a  couple  of  blows  with  a 
mattock  were  sufficient,  while  his  coadjutors  were  busy 
in  the  pit;  perhaps  it  required  a  dozen,  —  who  shall 
tell?" 


THE  FAIRY-FINDER. 

BY   SAMUEL   LOVER. 

INDING  a  fortune,"  is  a  phrase  often  heard 
amongst  the  peasantry  of  Ireland.  If  any  man 
from  small  beginnings  arrives  at  wealth,  in  a 
reasonable  course  of  time,  the  fact  is  scarcely  ever  con- 
sidered as  the  result  of  perseverance,  superior  intelli- 
gence, or  industry ;  it  passes  as  a  byword  through  the 
country  that  "  he  found  a  fortin  "  ;  whether  by  digging 
up  a  "  crock  o'  goold  "  in  the  ruins  of  an  old  abbey,  or 
by  catching  a  Leprechaun  and  forcing  him  to  "  deliver 
or  die,"  or  discovering  it  behind  an  old  wainscot,  is 
quite  immaterial :  the  when  or  where  is  equally  unim- 
portant, and  the  thousand  are  satisfied  with  the  rumor, 
"  He  found  a  fortin."  Besides,  going  into  particulars 
destroys  romance,  —  and  the  Irish  are  essentially  roman- 
tic, —  and  their  love  of  wonder  is  more  gratified  in  con- 
sidering the  change  from  poverty  to  wealth  as  the  result 
of  superhuman  aid,  than  in  attributing  it  to  the  mere 
mortal  causes  of  industry  and  prudence. 

The  crone  of  every  village  has  plenty  of  stories  to 
make  her  hearers  wonder,  how  fortunes   have  been 


THE    FAIEY-FINDEE.  59 

arrived  at  by  extraordinary  short  cuts ;  and  as  it  has 
been  laid  down  as  an  axiom,  "  That  there  never  was 
a  fool  who  had  not  a  greater  fool  to  admire  him,"  so 
there  never  was  any  old  woman  who  told  such  stories 
without  plenty  of  listeners. 

Now,  Darby  Kelleher  was  one  of  the  latter  class,  and 
there  was  a  certain  collioch*  who  was  an  extensive 
dealer  in  the  marvellous,  and  could  supply  "  wholesale, 
retail,  and  for  exportation  "  any  customer  such  as  Dar- 
by Kelleher,  who  not  only  was  a  devoted  listener,  but 
also  made  an  occasional  offering  at  the  cave  of  the 
sibyl,  in  return  for  her  oracular  communications.  This 
tribute  generally  was  tobacco,  as  the  collioch  was  par- 
tial to  chewing  the  weed ;  and  thus  Darby  returned  a 
quid  pro  quo,  without  having  any  idea  that  he  was 
giving  a  practical  instance  of  the  foregoing  well-known 
pun. 

Another  constant  attendant  at  the  hut  of  the  hag  was 
Oonah  Lenehan,  equally  prone  to  the  marvellous  with 
Darby  Kelleher,  and  quite  his  equal  in  idleness.  A  day 
never  passed  without  Darby  and  Oonah  paying  the  old 
woman  a  visit.  She  was  sure  to  be  "  at  home,"  for  age 
and  decrepitude  rendered  it  impossible  for  her  to  be 
otherwise ;  the  utmost  limit  of  her  ramble  from  her  own 
chimney-corner  being  the  seat  of  sods  outside  the  door 
of  her  hut,  where,  in  the  summer  time,  she  was  to  be 
found,  so  soon  as  the  sunbeams  fell  on  the  front  of  her 
abode,  and  made  the  seat  habitable  for  one  whose  ac- 
customed vicinity  to  the  fire  rendered  heat  indispensable 

*  Old  woman. 


60  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

to  comfort.  Here  she  would  sit  and  rock  herself  to  and 
fro  in  the  hot  noons  of  July  and  August,  her  own  ap- 
pearance and  that  of  her  wretched  cabin  being  in  admi- 
rable keeping.  To  a  fanciful  beholder  the  question 
might  have  suggested  itself,  whether  the  hag  was  made 
for  the  hovel,  or  it  for  her ;  or  whether  they  had  grown 
into  a  likeness  of  one  another,  as  man  and  wife  are  said 
to  do,  for  there  were  many  points  of  resemblance  be- 
tween them.  The  tattered  thatch  of  the  hut  was  like 
the  straggling  hair  of  its  mistress,  and  Time,  that  had 
grizzled  the  latter,  had  covered  the  former  with  gray 
lichens.  To  its  mud  walls,  a  strong  likeness  was  to  be 
found  in  the  tint  of  the  old  woman's  shrivelled  skin ; 
they  were  both  seriously  out  of  the  perpendicular ;  and 
the  rude  mud  and  wicker  chimney  of  the  edifice  having 
toppled  over  the  gable,  stuck  out,  something  in  the 
fashion  of  the  doodeen,  or  short  pipe,  that  projected  from 
the  old  woman's  upper  story;  and  so  they  both  were 
smoking  away  from  morning  till  night ;  and  to  complete 
the  similitude  sadly,  both  were  poor,  —  both  lonely,  — 
both  fast  falling  to  decay. 

Here  were  Darby  Kelleher  and  Oonah  Lenehan  sure 
to  meet  every  day.  Darby  might  make  his  appearance 
thus : — 

"  Good  morrow,  kindly,  granny." 

"  The  same  to  you,  avick,"  mumbled  out  the  crone. 

"  Here  's  some  baccy  for  you,  granny." 

"  Many  thanks  to  you,  Darby.  I  did  n't  lay  it  out 
for  seeing  you  so  airly,  the  day." 

"  No,  nor  you  would  n't  neither,  only  I  was  passin' 
this  a  way,  runnin'  an  arrand  for  the  squire,  and  I 


THE   FAIEY-FINDER.  61 

thought  I  might  as  well  step  in  and  ax  you  how  you 
wor." 

"  Good  boy,  Darby." 

"  Throth  an'  it 's  a  hot  day  that 's  in  it,  this  blessed 
day.  Phew !  Faix,  it 's  out  o'  breath  I  am,  and  mighty 
hot  intirely ;  for  I  was  runnin'  a'most  half  the  way,  be- 
kase  it 's  an  arrand,  you  see,  and  the  squire  towld  me  to 
make  haste,  and  so  I  did,  and  wint  acrass  the  fields  by 
the  short  cut ;  and  as  I  was  passin'  by  the  owld  castle, 
I  remembered  what  you  towld  me  awhile  agon,  granny, 
about  the  crock  o'  goold  that  is  there  for  sartin,  if  any 
one  could  come  upon  it." 

"  An'  that 's  thrue  indeed,  Darby,  avick,  —  and  never 
heerd  any  other  the  longest  day  I  can  remember." 

"  Well,  well !  think  o'  that ! !  0,  then  it 's  he  that  '11 
-be  the  lucky  fellow  that  finds  it." 

"  Thrue  for  you,  Darby ;  but  that  won't  be  antil  it  is 
laid  out  for  some  one  to  rise  it." 

"  Sure,  that 's  what  I  say  to  myself  often ;  and  why 
might  n't  it  be  my  chance  to  be  the  man  that  it  was  laid 
out  for  to  find  it  ?  " 

"  There  's  no  knowin',"  mumbled  the  crone,  mysteri- 
ously, as  she  shook  the  ashes  out  of  her  tobacco-pipe, 
and  replenished  the  doodeen  with  some  of  the  fresh  stock 
Darby  had  presented. 

"  Faix,  an'  that 's  thrue,  sure  enough.  0,  but  you  've 
a  power  o'  knowledge,  granny  ! !  Sure  enough,  indeed, 
there 's  no  knowin' ;  but  they  say  there 's  great  virtue  in 
dhrames." 

"  That 's  ondeniable,  Darby,"  said  the  hag,  "  and 
by  the  same  token  maybe  you  'd  step  into  the  house 


62  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

and  bring  me  out  a  bit  o'  'live  turf*  to  light  my 
pipe." 

"To  be  sure,  granny."  And  away  went  Darby  to 
execute  the  commission. 

While  he  was  raking,  from  amongst  the  embers  on  the 
hearth,  a  piece  of  turf  sufficiently  "  alive  "  for  the  pur- 
pose, Oonah  made  her  appearance  outside  the  hut,  and 
gave  the  usual  cordial  salutation  to  the  old  woman ; 
just  as  she  had  done  her  civility,  out  came  Darby,  hold- 
ing the  bit  of  turf  between  the  two  extremities  of  an 
osier  twig,  bent  double  for  the  purpose  of  forming  rus- 
tic tongs. 

"  Musha,  an'  is  that  you,  Darby  ?  "  said  Oonah. 

"  Who  else  would  it  be  ?  "  said  Darby. 

"  Why,  you  towld  me  over  an  hour  agone,  down  there 
in  the  big  field,  that  you  wor  in  a  hurry." 

"  And  so  I  am  in  a  hurry,  and  would  n't  be  here,  only 
I  jist  stepped  in  to  say  God  save  you  to  the  mother  here, 
and  to  light  her  pipe  for  her,  the  craythur." 

"  Well,  don't  be  standin'  there,  lettin'  the  coal  go 
black  out,  Darby,"  said  the  woman ;  "  but  let  me  light 
my  pipe  at  wanst." 

"  To  be  sure,  granny,"  said  Darby,  applying  the  mor- 
sel of  lighted  ember  to  the  bowl  of  her  pipe,  until  the 
process  of  ignition  had  been  effected.  "  And  now, 
Oonah,  my  darlint,  if  you're  so  sharp  an  other  people, 
what  the  dickens  brings  you  here,  when  it  is  mindin' 

*  In  Ireland  the  tobacco  in  a  pipe  is  very  generally  ignited 
by  the  application  of  a  piece  of  burning  turf,  or,  as  it  is  figura- 
tively called,  'live  turf. 


THE   FAIRY-FINDER.  63 

the  geese  in  the  stubbles  you  ought  to  be,  and  not  here  P 
What  would  the  misthriss  say  to  that,  I  wondher  ?  " 

"  0, 1  left  them  safe  enough,  and  they  're  able  to  take 
care  of  themselves  for  a  bit,  and  I  wanted  to  ax  the 
granny  about  a  dhrame  I  had." 

"  Sure,  so  do  I,"  said  Darby ;  "  and  you  know  first  come 
first  sarved  is  a  good  owld  sayin'.  And  so,  granny,  you 
own  to  it  that  there 's  a  power  o'  vartue  in  dhrames  ?  " 

A  long-drawn  whiff  of  the  pipe  was  all  the  hag  vouch- 
safed in  return. 

"  O,  then,  but  that 's  the  iligant  tabaccy  !  musha  but 
it 's  fine  and  sthrong,  and  takes  the  breath  from  one 
a'most,  it 's  so  good.  Long  life  to  you  Darby,  — 
paugh ! ! " 

"  You  're  kindly  welkim,  granny.  An'  as  I  was  sayin' 
about  the  dhrames,  —  you  say  there 's  a  power  o'  virtue 
in  them." 

"  Who  says  agin  it  ?  "  said  the  hag,  authoritatively,  and 
looking  with  severity  on  Darby. 

"  Sure,  an'  it 's  not  me  you  'd  suspect  o'  the  like  ?  I 
was  only  goin'  to  say  that  myself  had  a  mighty  sharp 
dhrame  last  night,  and  sure  I  kem  to  ax  you  about  the 
tnaynin'  av  it." 

"  Well,  avic,  tell  us  your  dhrame,"  said  the  hag,  suck- 
ing her  pipe  with  increased  energy. 

"  Well,  you  see,"  said  Darby,  "  I  dhremt  I  was  goin' 
along  a  road,  and  that  all  of  a  suddint  I  kem  to  crass 
roads,  and  you  know  there's  great  vartue  in  crass 
roads." 

"  That 's  thrue,  avourneen !  —  paugh  ! !  —  go  an." 

"  Well,  as  I  was  sayin',  I  kem  to  the  crass  roads,  and 


64  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

soon  afther  I  seen  four  walls ;  now  I  think  the  four  walls 
manes  the  owld  castle." 

"  Likely  enough,  avic." 

"  O,"  said  Oonah,  who  was  listening  with  her  mouth 
as  wide  open  as  if  the  faculty  of  hearing  lay  there,  instead 
of  in  her  ears,  "  sure,  you  know  the  owld  castle  has  only 
three  walls,  and  how  could  that  be  it  ?  " 

"  No  matther  for  that,"  said  the  crone,  "  it  ought  to 
have  four,  and  that 's  the  same  thing." 

"  Well !  well !  I  never  thought  o'  that,"  said  Oonah, 
lifting  her  hands  in  wonder ;  "  sure  enough,  so  it 
ought ! " 

"  Go  an,  Darby,"  said  the  hag. 

"  Well,  I  thought  the  greatest  sight  o'  crows  ever  I 
seen  flew  out  o'  the  castle,  and  I  think  that  must  mane 
the  goold  there  is  in  it." 

"  Did  you  count  how  many  there  was  ?  "  said  the  hag, 
with  great  solemnity. 

"  Faith,  I  never  thought  o'  that,"  said  Darby,  with  an 
air  of  vexation. 

"  Could  you  tell  me,  itself,  wor  they  odd  or  even, 
avic  ? " 

"  Faix,  an'  I  could  not  say  for  sartin." 

"  Ah,  that 's  it ! !  "  said  the  crone,  shaking  her  head 
in  token  of  disappointment.  "  How  can  I  tell  the  mayn- 
in'  o'  your  dhrame,  if  you  don't  know  how  it  kem  out 
exactly  ?  " 

"  Well,  granny,  but  don't  you  think  the  crows  was 
likely  for  goold  ?  " 

"  Yis,  —  if  they  flew  heavy." 

"Throth,  then,  an'  now  I  remimber  they  did  fly 


THE    FAIRY-FINDER.  65 

heavy,  and  I  said  to  myself  there  would  be  rain  soon, 
the  crows  was  flyin'  so  heavy." 

"  I  wish  you  did  n't  dhrame  o'  rain,  Darby." 

"  Why,  granny  ?     What  harm  is  it  ?  " 

"  0,  nothin',  only  it  comes  in  a  crass  place  there." 

"  But  it  does  n't  spile  the  dhrame,  I  hope  ?  " 

"  0  no.     Go  an." 

"  Well,  with  that,  I  thought  I  was  passin'  by  Doolins 
the  miller's,  and  says  he  to  me,  '  Will  you  carry  home 
this  sack  o'  male  for  me  ? '  Now,  you  know,  male  is 
money,  every  fool  knows  ! " 

"Right,  avic." 

"  And  so  I  tuk  the  sack  o'  male  an  my  shouldher,  and 
I  thought  the  weight  iv  it  was  killin'  me,  just  as  if  it  was 
a  sack  o'  goold." 
,    "  Go  an,  Darby." 

"  And  with  that  I  thought  I  met  with  a  cat,  and  that, 
you  know,  manes  an  ill-nathur'd  wotaan." 

"Right,  Darby." 

"And  says  she  to  me,  'Darby  Kelleher,'  says  she, 
'  you  're  mighty  yollow,  God  bless  you ;  is  it  the  jandhers 
you  have  ? '  says  she.  Now  was  n't  that  mighty  sharp  ? 
I  think  the  jandhers  manes  goold  ?  " 

"  Yis,  iv  it  was  the  yollow  jandhers  you  dhremt  iv,  and 
not  the  black  jandhers." 

"  Well,  it  was  the  yollow  jandhers." 

"  Very  good,  avic  ;  that 's  makin'  a  fair  offer  at  it." 

"  I  thought  so,  myself,"  said  Darby,  "  more  by  token 
when  there  was  a  dog  in  my  dhrame  next ;  and  that 's  a 
frind,  you  know." 

"  Right,  avic." 

a 


66  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"  And  he  had  a  silver  collar  an  him." 

"  O,  bad  luck  to  that  silver  collar,  Darby ;  what  made 
you  dhrame  o'  silver  at  all  ?  " 

"  Why,  what  harm  ?  " 

"O,  I  thought  you  knew  bether  nor  to  dhrame  o' 
silver;  why,  cushla  machree,  sure  silver  is  a  disap- 
pointment all  the  world  over." 

"O  murther!"  said  Darby,  in  horror,  "and  is  my 
dhrame  spylte  by  that  blackguard  collar  ?  " 

"Nigh  hand  indeed,  but  not  all  out.  It  would  be 
spylte  only  for  the  dog,  but  the  dog  is  a  frind,  and  so 
it  will  be  only  a  frindly  disappointment,  or  maybe  a 
fallin'  out  with  an  acquaintance." 

"  0,  what  matther,"  said  Darby,  "  so  the  dhrame  is 
to  the  good  still ! !  " 

"  The  dhrame  is  to  the  good  still ;  but  tell  me  if  you 
dhremt  o'  three  sprigs  o'  sparemmt  at  the  ind  iv  it  ?  " 

"  Why,  then,  now  I  could  not  say  for  sartin,  bekase  I 
was  nigh  wakin'  at  the  time,  and  the  dhrame  was  not  so 
clear  to  me." 

"  I  wish  you  could  be  sartin  o'  that." 

"  Why,  I  have  it  an  my  mind  that  there  was  sparemint 
in  it,  bekase  I  thought  there  was  a  garden  in  part  iv  it, 
and  the  sparemint  was  likely  to  be  there." 

"  Sure  enough,  and  so  you  did  dhrame  o'  the  three 
sprigs  o'  sparemint  ?  " 

"Indeed,  I  could  a'most  make  my  book-oath  that  I 
dhremt  iv  it.  I  'm  partly  sartin,  if  not  all  out." 

"Well,  that's  raysonable.  It's  a  good  dhrame, 
Darby." 

"  Do  you  tell  me  so ! " 


THE   FAIRY-FINDER.  67 

"  'Deed  an'  it  is,  Darby.  Now  wait  till  the  next  quar- 
ther  o'  the  new  moon,  and  dhrame  again  then,  and  you  '11 
see  what  '11  come  of  it." 

"  By  dad  an'  I  will,  granny.  O  but  it 's  you  has  taken 
the  maynin'  out  of  it  beyant  everything;  and  faix  if  I 
find  the  crock,  it's  yourself  won't  be  the  worse  iv  it; 
but  I  must  be  goin',  granny,  for  the  squire  bid  me  to 
hurry,  or  else  I  would  stay  longer  wid  you.  Good 
mornin'  to  you  —  good  mornin',  Oonah  !  I  '11  see  you 
to-morrow  some  time,  granny."  And  off  went  Darby, 
leisurely  enough. 

The  foregoing  dialogue  shows  the  ready  credulity  of 
poor  Darby ;  but  it  was  not  in  his  belief  of  the  "  vartue 
of  dbrames  "  that  his  weakness  only  lay.  He  likewise 
had  a  most  extensive  creed  as  regarded  fairies  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes,  and  was  always  on  the  lookout  for  a  Lepre- 
chaun. Now  a  Leprechaun  is  a  fairy  of  peculiar  tastes, 
properties,  and  powers,  which  it  is  necessary  to  acquaint 
the  reader  with.  His  taste  as  to  occupation  is  very 
humble,  for  he  employs  himself  in  making  shoes,  and  he 
loves  retirement,  being  fond  of  shady  nooks  where  he  can 
sit  alone  and  pursue  his  avocation  undisturbed.  He  is 
quite  a  hermit  in  this  respect,  for  there  is  no  instance  on 
record  of  two  Leprechauns  being  seen  together.  But  he 
is  quite  a  beau  in  his  dress,  notwithstanding,  for  he  wears 
a  red  square-cut  coat,  richly  laced  with  gold,  waistcoat 
and  inexpressibles  of  the  same,  cocked  hat,  shoes,  and 
buckles.  He  has  the  property  of  deceiving,  in  so  great 
a  degree,  those  who  chance  to  discover  him,  that  none 
have  ever  yet  been  known  whom  he  has  not  overreached 
in  the  "  keen  encounter  of  the  wits,"  which  his  meeting 


68  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

with  mortals  always  produces.  This  is  occasioned  by  his 
possessing  the  power  of  bestowing  unbounded  wealth  on 
whoever  can  keep  him  within  sight  until  he  is  weary  of 
the  surveillance,  and  gives  the  ransom  demanded,  and  to 
this  end,  the  object  of  the  mortal  who  is  so  fortunate  as 
to  surprise  one  is  to  seize  him  and  never  withdraw  his 
eye  from  him,  until  the  threat  of  destruction  forces  the 
Leprechaun  to  produce  the  treasure;  but  the  sprite  is 
too  many  for  us  clumsy-witted  earthlings,  and  is  sure, 
by  some  device,  to  make  us  avert  our  eyes,  when  he 
vanishes  at  once. 

This  Enchanted  Cobbler  of  the  meadows,  Darby  Kel- 
leher  was  always  on  the  lookout  for.  But  though  so  con- 
stantly on  the  watch  for  a  Leprechaun,  he  never  had  got 
even  within  sight  of  one,  and  the  name  of  the  Fairy-Finder 
was  bestowed  upon  him  in  derision.  Many  a  trick  too 
was  played  upon  him ;  sometimes  a  twig  stuck  amongst 
long  grass,  with  a  red  rag  hanging  upon  it,  has  betrayed 
Darby  into  a  cautious  observance  and  approach,  until  a 
nearer  inspection,  and  a  laugh  from  behind  some  neigh- 
boring hedge,  have  dispelled  the  illusion.  But  this, 
though  often  repeated,  did  not  cure  him,  and  no  turkey- 
cock  had  a  quicker  eye  for  a  bit  of  red,  or  flew  at  it  with 
greater  eagerness,  than  Darby  Kelleher ;  and  he  enter- 
tained the  belief  that  one  day  or  other  he  would  reap  the 
reward  of  all  his  watching,  by  finding  a  Leprechaun  in 
good  earnest. 

But  that  was  all  in  the  hands  of  Fate,  and  must  be 
waited  for ;  in  the  mean  time  there  was  the  castle  and 
the  "crock  o'  goold"  for  a  certainty,  and,  under  the 
good  omens  of  the  "  sharp  dhrame  "  he  had,  he  deter- 


THE  ^-AIRY-FINDER.  69 

mined  on  taking  that  affair  in  hand  at  once.  For  his 
companion  in  the  labor  of  digging,  and  pulling  the  pon- 
derous walls  of  the  castle  to  pieces,  he  selected  Oonah, 
who  was,  in  the  parlance  of  her  own  class,  "  a  brave 
two-handed  long-sided  jack,"  and  as  great  a  believer  in 
dreams  and  omens  as  Darby  himself;  besides,  she  prom- 
ised profound  secrecy,  and  agreed  to  take  a  small  share 
of  the  treasure  for  her  reward  in  assisting  to  discover  it. 

For  about  two  months  Darby  and  Oonah  labored  in 
vain ;  but  at  last  something  came  of  their  exertions.  In 
the  course  of  their  work,  when  they  occasionally  got 
tired,  they  would  sit  down  to  rest  themselves  and  talk 
over  their  past  disappointments  and  future  hopes.  Now 
it  was  during  one  of  these  intervals  of  repose  that  Darby, 
as  he  was  resting  himself  on  one  of  the  coign-stones  of 
,the  ruin,  suddenly  discovered  —  that  he  was  in  love  with 
Oonah. 

Now  Oonah  happened  to  be  thinking  much  in  the 
same  sort  of  way  about  Darby,  at  that  very  moment,  and 
the  end  of  the  affair  was,  that  Darby  and  Oonah  were 
married  the  Sunday  following. 

The  calculating  Englishman  will  ask,  Did  he  find  the 
treasure  before  he  married  the  girl?  The  unsophisti- 
cated boys  of  the  sod  never  calculate  on  these  occasions ; 
and  the  story  goes  that  Oonah  Lenehan  was  the  only 
treasure  Darby  discovered  in  the  old  castle.  Darby's 
acquaintances  were  in  high  glee  on  the  occasion,  and 
swore  he  got  a  great  lob  ;  for  Oonah,  be  it  remembered, 
was  on  the  grenadier  scale,  or  what  in  Ireland  is  called 
"  the  full  of  a  door,"  and  the  news  spread  over  the  coun- 
try in  some  such  fashion  as  this :  — 


70  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

"  Arrah,  an'  did  you  hear  the  news  ?  " 

"  What  news  ?  " 

"About  Darby  Kelleher." 

"What  of  him?" 

"  Sure  he  found  a  fairy  at  last." 

"  Tare  an  ounty !  " 

"  Thruth  I  'm  telhn'  you.  He  's  married  to  Oonah 
Lenehan." 

"  Ha !  ha !  ha !  by  the  powers  it 's  she  that  is  the  rale 
fairy !  musha,  more  power  to  you,  Darby,  but  you  've 
cotched  it  in  airnest  now !  " 

But  the  fairy  he  had  caught  did  not  satisfy  Darby  so 
far  as  to  make  him  give  up  the  pursuit*  for  the  future. 
He  was  still  on  the  watch  for  a  Leprechaun ;  and  one 
morning,  as  he  was  going  to  his  work,  he  stopped  sud- 
denly on  his  path,  which  lay  through  a  field  of  standing 
corn,  and  his  eye  became  riveted  on  some  object  with  the 
most  eager  expression.  He  crouched,  and  crawled,  and 
was  making  his  way  with  great  caution  towards  the  point 
of  his  attraction,  when  he  was  visited  on  the  back  of  the 
head  with  a  thump  that  considerably  disturbed  his  visual 
powers,  and  the  voice  of  his  mother,  a  vigorous  old  bel- 
dame, saluted  his  ear  at  the  same  time  with  a  hearty, 
"  Bad  luck  to  you,  you  lazy  thief,  what  are  you  slindging 
there  for,  when  it's  minding  your  work  you  ought  to 
be?" 

"Whisht !  whisht !  mother,"  said  Darby,  holding  up  his 
hand  in  token  of  silence. 

"  What  do  you  mane,  you  omadhaun  ?  " 

"  Mother,  be  quiet,  I  bid  you !  whisht !  I  see  it !  " 

"  What  do  you  see  ?  " 


THE   FAIRY-FINDEE.  71 

"  Stoop  down  here.  Straight  fominst  you,  don't  you 
see  it  as  plain  as  a  pikestaff?  " 

"  See  what  ?  " 

"  That  httle  red  thing." 

"Well,  what  of  it?" 

"  See  there,  how  it  stirs.  0  murther !  it 's  goin'  to 
be  off  afore  I  can  catch  it.  0  murther !  why  did  you 
come  here  at  all,  makin'  a  noise  and  frightenin'  it 
away  ?  " 

"  Frightenin'  what,  you  big  fool  ?  " 

"  The  Leprechaun  there.    Whisht !  it  is  quiet  agin !  " 

"  May  the  d — 1  run  a  huntin'  wid  you  for  a  big  omad- 
haun ;  why,  you  born  nath'ral,  is  it  that  red  thing  over 
there  you  mane  ?  " 

"  Yis,  to  be  sure  it  is ;  don't  spake  so  loud,  I  tell 
you." 

"  Why,  bad  scran  to  you,  you  fool,  it 's  a  poppy  it  is, 
and  nothin'  else."  And  the  old  woman  went  over  to  the 
spot  where  it  grew,  and  plucking  it  up  by  the  roots 
threw  it  at  Darby,  with  a  great  deal  of  abuse  into  the 
bargain,  and  bade  him  go  mind  his  work,  instead  of 
being  a  "slindging  vagabone,  as  he  was." 

It  was  some  time  after  this  occurrence,  that  Darby 
Kelleher  had  a  meeting  with  a  certain  Doctor  Dionysius 
Mac  Finn,  whose  name  became  much  more  famous  than 
it  had  hitherto  been,  from  the  wonderful  events  that 
ensued  in  consequence. 

Of  the  doctor  himself  it  becomes  necessary  to  say 
something.  His  father  was  one  Paddy  Finn,  and  had 
been  so  prosperous  in  the  capacity  of  a  cow  doctor,  that 
nis  son  Denis,  seeing  the  dignity  of  a  professor  in  the 


72  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

healing  art  must  increase  in  proportion  to  the  nobleness 
of  the  animal  he  operates  upon,  determined  to  make  the 
human,  instead  of  the  brute  creation,  the  object  of  his 
care.  To  this  end  he  was  assisted  by  his  father,  who 
had  scraped  some  money  together  in  his  humble  calling, 
and  having  a  spice  of  ambition  in  him,  as  well  as  his 
aspiring  son,  he  set  him  up  in  the  neighboring  village  as 
an  apothecary.  Here  Denny  enjoyed  the  reputation  of 
being  an  "iligant  bone-setter,"  and  cracked  skulls,  the 
result  of  fair  fighting,  and  whiskey  fevers  were  treated 
by  him  on  the  most  approved  principles.  But  Denny's 
father  was  gathered  unto  his  fathers,  and  the  son  came 
into  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  old  man's  money :  this, 
considering  his  condition,  was  considerable,  and  the  pos- 
session of  a  few  hundred  pounds  so  inflated  the  apothe- 
cary, that  he  determined  on  becoming  a  "  Doctor "  at 
once.  Tor  this  purpose  he  gave  up  his  apothecary's 
shop,  and  set  off — where  do  you  think? — to  Spain. 
Here  he  remained  for  some  time,  and  returned  to  Ire- 
land, declaring  himself  a  full  physician  of  one  of  the 
Spanish  universities;  his  name  of  Denny  Finn  trans- 
formed into  Doctor  Dionysius  Mac  Finn,  or,  as  his 
neighbors  chose  to  call  it,  Mac  Fun,  and  fun  enough 
the  doctor  certainly  gave  birth  to.  The  little  money  he 
once  had  was  spent  in  his  pursuit  of  professional  honors, 
and  he  returned  to  his  native  place  with  a  full  title  and 
an  empty  purse,  and  his  practice  did  not  tend  to  fill  it. 
At  the  same  time  there  was  a  struggle  to  keep  up  ap- 
pearances. He  kept  a  horse,  or  what  he  intended  to  be 
considered  as  such,  but 't  was  only  a  pony,  and  if  he  had 
but  occasion  to  go  to  the  end  of  the  village  on  a  visit, 


THE    FAIRY-FINDER.  73 

the  pony  was  ordered  on  service.  He  was  glad  to  accept 
an  invitation  to  dinner  wherever  he  had  the  luck  to  get 
one,  and  the  offer  of  a  bed,  even,  was  sure  to  be  accepted, 
because  that  insured  breakfast  the  next  morning.  Thus 
poor  Doctor  Dionysius  made  out  the  cause ;  often  asked 
to  dinner  from  mingled  motives  of  kindness  and  fun,  for 
while  a  good  dinner  was  a  welcome  novelty  to  the  doctor, 
the  absurdities  of  his  pretension  and  manner  rendered  him 
a  subject  of  unfailing  diversion  to  his  entertainers.  Now 
he  had  gone  the  round  of  all  the  snug  farmers  and  country 
gentlemen  in  the  district,  but  at  last  he  had  the  honor  to 
receive  an  invitation  from  the  squire  himself,  and  on  the 
appointed  day  Doctor  Dionysius  bestrode  his  pony,  attired 
in  the  full  dress  of  a  Spanish  physician,  which  happens 
to  be  red  from  head  to  foot,  and  presented  himself  at 
"The  Hall." 

When  a  groom  appeared  to  take  his  "  horse  "  to  the 
stable,  the  doctor  requested  that  his  steed  might  be 
turned  loose  into  the  lawn,  declaring  it  to  be  more 
wholesome  for  the  animal  than  being  cooped  up  in  a 
house ;  the  saddle  and  bridle  were  accordingly  removed, 
and  his  desire  complied  with. 

The  doctor's  appearance  in  the  drawing-room,  attired 
as  he  was,  caused  no  small  diversion,  but  attention  was 
speedily  called  off  from  him  by  the  announcement  of 
dinner,  that  electric  sound  that  stimulates  a  company  at 
the  same  instant,  and  supersedes  every  other  considera- 
tion whatsoever.  Moreover,  the  squire's  dinners  were 
notoriously  good,  and  the  doctor  profited  largely  by  the 
same  that  day,  and  lost  no  opportunity  of  filling  his  glass 
with  the  choice  wines  that  surrounded  him.  This  he  did 

VOL.  XII.  4 


74  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

to  so  much  purpose,  that  the  poor  little  man  was  very 
far  gone  when  the  guests  were  about  to  separate. 

At  the  doctor's  request  the  bell  was  rung,  and  his 
horse  ordered,  as  the  last  remaining  few  of  the  company 
were  about  to  separate,  but  every  one  of  them  had  de- 
parted, and  still  there  was  no  announcement  of  the  steed 
being  at  the  door.  At  length  a  servant  made  his  ap- 
pearance, and  said  it  was  impossible  to  catch  the  doctor's 
pony. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  '  catch '  P "  said  the  squire. 
"Is  it  not  in  the  stable?" 

"No,  sir." 

Here  an  explanation  ensued,  and  the  squire  ordered 
a  fresh  attempt  to  be  made  to  take  the  fugitive;  but, 
though  many  fresh  hands  were  employed  in  the  attempt, 
the  pony  baffled  all  their  efforts ;  every  manoeuvre  usu- 
ally resorted  to  on  such  occasions,  was  vainly  put  in 
practice.  He  was  screwed  up  into  corners,  but  no 
sooner  was  he  there  than,  squealing  and  flinging  up  his 
heels,  he  broke  through  the  blockade ;  —  again  his  flank 
was  turned  by  nimble  runners,  but  the  pony  was  nimbler 
still ;  a  sieve  full  of  oats  was  presented  as  an  inducement, 
but  the  pony  was  above  such  vulgar  tricks,  and  defied  all 
attempts  at  being  captured. 

This  was  the  mode  by  which  the  doctor  generally 
secured  the  offer  of  a  bed,  and  he  might  have  been  suc- 
cessful in  this  instance,  but  for  a  knowing  old  coachman 
who  was  up  to  the  trick,  and  out  of  pure  fun  chose  to 
expose  it ;  so,  bringing  out  a  huge  blunderbuss,  he  said, 
"  Never  mind,  — just  let  me  at  him,  and  I  '11  engage 
I  '11  make  him  stand." 


THE   FAIRY-FINDER.  75 

"0  my  good  man,"  said  the  doctor,  "pray  don't 
take  so  much  trouble ;  just  let  me  go  with  you."  And 
proceeding  to  the  spot  where  the  pony  was  still  luxuriat- 
ing on  the  rich  grass  of  the  squire's  lawn,  he  gave  a  low 
whistle,  and  the  little  animal  walked  up  to  his  owner 
with  as  much  tractability  as  a  dog.  The  saddling  and 
bridling  did  not  take  much  time,  and  the  doctor  was 
obliged  to  renounce  his  hopes  of  a  bed  and  to-morrow's 
breakfast,  and  ride  home,  —  or  homewards,  I  should  say, 
for  it  was  as  little  his  destiny  as  bis  wish  to  sleep  at 
home  that  night :  for  he  was  so  overpowered  with  Ms 
potations,  that  he  could  not  guide  the  pony,  and  the 
pony's  palate  was  so  tickled  by  the  fresh  herbage,  that 
he  wished  for  more  of  it,  and  finding  a  gate  that  led  to 
a  meadow  open  by  the  roadside,  he  turned  into  the  field, 
where  he  very  soon  turned  the  doctor  into  a  ditch,  so 
that  they  had  bed  and  board  between  them  to  their 
heart's  content. 

The  doctor  and  his  horse  slept  and  ate  profoundly  all 
night,  and  even  the  "  rosy -fingered  morn,"  as  the  poets 
have  it,  found  them  in  the  continuance  of  their  enjoy- 
ment. Now  it  happened  that  Darby  Kelleher  was  pass- 
ing along  the  path  that  lay  by  the  side  of  the  ditch 
where  the  doctor  was  sleeping,  and  on  perceiving  him, 
Darby  made  as  dead  a  set  as  ever  pointer  did  at  game. 

The  doctor,  be  it  remembered,  was  dressed  in  red. 
Moreover,  he  was  a  little  man,  and  his  gold-laced  hat 
and  ponderous  shoe-buckles  completed  the  resemblance 
to  the  being  that  Darby  took  him  for.  Darby  was  at 
last  certain  that  he  had  discovered  a  Leprechaun,  and 
amaze  so  riveted  him  to  the  spot,  and  anxiety  made  his 


76  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

pulse  beat  so  fast,  that  he  could  not  move  nor  breathe  for 
some  seconds.  At  last  he  recovered  himself,  and  go- 
ing stealthily  to  the  spot  where  the  doctor  slept,  every 
inch  of  his  approach  made  him  more  certain  of  the  real- 
ity of  his  prize  ;  and  when  he  found  himself  within  reach 
of  it,  he  made  one  furious  spring,  and  flung  himself  on 
the  unfortunate  little  man,  fastening  his  tremendous  fist 
on  his  throat,  at  the  same  time  exclaiming  in  triumph, 
"  Hurra !  —  by  the  hoky,  I  have  you  at  last ! !  " 

The  poor  little  doctor,  thus  rudely  and  suddenly 
aroused  from  his  tipsy  sleep,  looked  excessively  bewil- 
dered when  he  opened  his  eyes,  and  met  the  glare  of 
ferocious  delight  that  Darby  Kelleher  cast  upon  him,  and 
he  gurgled  out,  "  What 's  the  matter  ?  "  as  well  as  the 
grip  of  Darby's  hand  upon  his  throat  would  permit  him. 

"  Goold  's  the  matther,"  shouted  Darby,  —  "  Goold  ! 
—  Goold!!  —  Goold!!!" 

"  What  about  Goold  ?  "  says  the  doctor. 

"  Goold  !  —  yallow  goold  —  that 's  the  matther." 

"  Is  it  Paddy  Goold  that 's  taken  ill  again  ?  "  said  the 
doctor,  rubbing  his  eyes.  "Don't  choke  me,  my  good 
man;  I  '11  go  immediately,"  said  he,  endeavoring  to  rise. 

"  By  my  sowl,  you  won't,"  said  Darby,  tightening  his 
hold. 

"  For  mercy's  sake  let  me  go !  "  said  the  doctor. 

"  Let  you  go  indeed  !  —  ow !  ow !  " 

"  For  the  tender  mercy  —  " 

"  Goold !  goold  !  you  little  vagabone  ! " 

"  Well,  I  'm  going,  if  you  let  me." 

"  Divil  a  step."    And  here  he  nearly  choked  him. 

"  Oh !  murder !  —  for  God's  sake  ! " 


THE   FAIRY-FINDER.  77 

"  Whisht ! !  —  you  thief,  —  how  dar  you  say  God,  you 
divil's  imp ! ! ! " 

The  poor  little  man,  between  the  suddenness  of  his 
waking  and  the  roughness  of  the  treatment  he  was 
under,  was  in  such  a  state  of  bewilderment,  that  for  the 
first  time  he  now  perceived  he  was  lying  amongst  grass 
and  under  bushes,  and,  rolling  his  eyes  about,  he  ex- 
claimed, — 

"  Where  am  I  ?  —  God  bless  me ! " 

"Whisht!  you  little  cruked  ottomy  —  by  the  holy 
farmer,  if  you  say  God  agin,  I  '11  cut  your  throat." 

"  What  do  you  hold  me  so  tight  for  ?  " 

"  Just  for  fear  you  'd  vanish,  you  see.  O,  I  know  you 
well ! " 

"  Then,  my  good  man,  if  you  know  me  so  well,  treat 
me  with  proper  respect,  if  you  please." 

"  Divil  send  you  respect.  Respect  indeed !  that 's  a 
good  thing.  Musha  bad  luck  to  your  impidence,  you 
thievin'  owld  rogue." 

"  Who  taught  you  to  call  such  names  to  your  betters, 
fellow  ?  How  dare  you  use  a  professional  gentleman  so 
rudely  ?  " 

"  0,  do  you  hear  this ! !  —  a  profissionil  gintleman ! 
Arrah,  do  you  think  I  don't  know  you,  you  little  owld 
cobbler  ?  " 

"  Cobbler  !  Zounds,  what  do  you  mean,  you  ruffian  ? 
Let  me  go,  sirrah  ! "  And  he  struggled  violently  to  rise. 

"  Not  a  taste,  'scure  to  the  step  you  '11  go  out  o'  this 
till  you  give  me  what  I  want." 

"  What  do  you  want,  then  P  " 

"Goold  —  goold!" 


78  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"  Ho  !  ho  !  so  you  're  a  robber,  sir ;  you  want  to  rob 
me,  do  you  ?  " 

"  Oh !  what  robbery  it  is ! !  —  throth  that  won't  do,  as 
cunnin'  as  you  think  yourself;  you  won't  frighten  me 
that  way.  Come,  give  it  at  wanst,  —  you  may  as  well. 
I  '11  never  let  go  my  grip  o'  you  antil  you  hand  me  out 
the  goold." 

"  Ton  the  honor  of  a  gentleman,  gold  nor  silver  is  not 
in  my  company.  I  have  fourpence  halfpenny  in  my 
breeches-pocket,  which  you  are  welcome  to  if  you  let  go 
my  throat." 

"  Fourpence  hapny ! ! !  Why,  then,  do  you  think  me 
sitch  a  gom,  all  out,  as  to  put  me  off  wid  fourpence 
hapny ;  throth,  for  three  sthraws,  this  minit  I  'd  thrash 
you  within  an  inch  o'  your  life  for  your  impidence. 
Come,  no  humbuggin' ;  out  with  the  goold ! " 

"  I  have  no  gold.  Don't  choke  me :  if  you  murder 
me,  remember  there  's  law  in  the  land.  You  'd  better 
let  me  go." 

"  Not  a  fut.  Gi'  me  the  goold,  I  tell  you,  you  little 
vagabone ! ! "  said  Darby,  shaking  him  violently. 

"  Don't  murder  me,  for  Heaven's  sake  !  " 

"  I  will  murdher  you  if  you  don't  give  me  a  hatful  o' 
goold  this  minit." 

"  A  hatful  of  gold !  Why,  whom  do  you  take  me 
for?" 

"  Sure  I  know  you'  re  a  Leprechaun,  you  desaiver  o' 
the  world !  " 

"  A  Leprechaun !  "  said  the  doctor,  in  mingled  indig- 
nation and  amazement.  "  My  good  man,  you  mistake." 

"  O,  how  soft  I  am  !    'T  won't  do,  I  tell  you.    I  have 


THE   FAIRY-FINDER.  79 

yon,  and  I  'II  howld  you ;  long  I  've  been  lookin'  for 
you,  and  I  cotch  you  at  last,  and  by  the  tarnal  o'  war 
I  '11  have  your  life  or  the  goold." 

"  My  good  man,  be  merciful  —  you  mistake  —  1  'm  no 
Leprechaun ;  I  'm  Doctor  Mac  Finn." 

"That  won't  do  either !  you  think  to  desaive  me,  but 
't  won't  do  ;  — just  as  if  I  didn't  know  a  docthor  from 
a  Leprechaun.  Gi'  me  the  goold,  you  owld  chate  ! " 

"  I  tell  you  I  'm  Doctor  Dionysius  Mac  Finn.  Take 
care  what  you  're  about !  — there  's  law  in  the  land; 
and  I  think  I  begin  to  know  you.  Your  name  is  Kelle- 
her?" 

"  0,  you  cunnin'  owld  thief !  0,  then,  but  you  are  the 
complate  owld  rogue  ;  only  I  'm  too  able  for  you.  You 
want  to  freken  me,  do  you  ?  0,  you  little  scrap  o'  de- 
,  ception,  but  you  are  deep  ! " 

"  Your  name  is  Kelleher  —  I  remember.  My  good 
fellow,  take  care ;  don't  you  know  I  'm  Doctor  Mac 
Finn,  —  don't  you  see  I  am  ?  " 

"Why  thin  but  you  have  the  dirty  yollow  pinched 
look  iv  him,  sure  enough ;  but  don't  I  know  you  've  only 
put  it  an  you  to  desaive  me ;  besides,  the  doctor  has 
dirty  owld  tatthers  o'  black  clothes  an  him,  and  is  n't  as 
red  as  a  sojer,like  you." 

"  That 's  an  accident,  my  good  man." 

"  Gi'  me  the  goold  this  minit,  and  no  more  prate  wid 
you." 

"I  tell  you,  Kelleher  —  " 

"  Howld  your  tongue,  and  gi'  me  the  goold." 

"By  all  that's  —  " 

"Will  you  give  it?" 


80  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"How  can  I?" 

"  Very  well.  You  '11  see  what  the  ind  of  it  'ill  be," 
said  Darby,  rising,  but  still  keeping  his  iron  grip  of  the 
doctor.  "  Now,  for  the  last  time,  I  ask  you,  will  you  gi' 
me  the  goold  ?  or,  by  the  powers  o'  wildfire,  I  '11  put  you 
where  you  '11  never  see  daylight  antil  you  make  me  a  rich 
man." 

"  I  have  no  gold,  I  tell  you." 

"  Faix,  then  I  '11  keep  you  till  you  find  it,"  said  Darby, 
who  tucked  the  little  man  under  his  arm,  and  ran  home 
with  him  as  fast  as  he  could. 

He  kicked  at  his  cabin  door  for  admittance  when  he 
reached  home,  exclaiming,  — 

"  Let  me  in !  let  me  in !     Make  haste  ;  I  have  him." 

"  Who  have  you  ?  "  said  Oonah,  as  she  opened  the 
door. 

"  Look  at  that !  "  said  Darby  in  triumph ;  "  I  cotch 
him  at  last !  " 

"  Weira  then,  is  it  a  Leprechaun  it  is  ?  "  said  Oonah. 

"  Divil  a  less,"  said  Darby,  throwing  down  the  doctor 
on  the  bed,  and  still  holding  him  fast.  "  Open  the  big 
chest,  Oouah,  and  we  '11  lock  him  up  in  it,  and  keep  him 
antil  he  gives  us  the  goold." 

"  Murder  !  murder  !  "  shouted  the  doctor.  "  Lock 
me  up  in  a  chest ! !  " 

"  Gi'  me  the  goold,  then,  and  I  won't." 

"  My  good  man,  you  know  I  have  not  gold  to  give." 

"  Don't  believe  him,  Darby  jewel,"  said  Oonah ;  "  them 
Leprechauns  is  the  biggest  liars  in  the  world." 

"  Sure  I  know  that !  "  said  Darby,  "  as  well  as  you. 
Oh !  all  the  throuble  I  've  had  wid  him ;  throth  only  I  'm 


THE    FAIRY-FINDER.  81 

aiqual  to  a  counsellor  for  knowledge,  he  'd  have  nam- 
plushed  me  long  ago." 

"  Long  life  to  you,  Darby  dear ! " 

"  Mrs.  Kelleher,"  said  the  doctor. 

"  0  Lord !  "  said  Oonah,  in  surprise,  "  did  you  ever 
hear  the  like  o'  that  ?  —  how  he  knows  my  name  !  " 

"  To  be  sure  he  does,"  said  Darby,  "  and  why  nat  ? 
sure  he 's  a  fairy,  you  know." 

"  I  'm  no  fairy,  Mrs.  Kelleher.  I  'm  a  doctor,  —  Doc- 
tor Mac  Finn." 

"  Don't  b'lieve  him,  darlin',"  said  Darby.  "  Make 
haste  and  open  the  chest." 

"  Darby  Kelleher,"  said  the  doctor,  "  let  me  go,  and 
I  '11  cure  you  whenever  you  want  my  assistance." 

"Well,  I  want  your  assistance  now,"  said  Darby, 
"  for  I  'm  very  bad  this  minit  wid  poverty ;  and  if  you 
cure  me  o'  that,  I  '11  let  you  go." 

"  What  will  become  of  me  ? "  said  the  doctor  in 
despair,  as  Darby  carried  him  towards  the  big  chest 
which  Oonah  had  opened. 

"  I  '11  tell  you  what  '11  become  o'  you,"  said  Darby, 
seizing  a  hatchet  that  lay  within  his  reach;  "by  the 
seven  blessed  candles,  if  you  don't  consint  before  night 
to  fill  that  big  chest  full  o'  goold,  I  '11  chop  you  as  small 
as  aribs  (herbs)  for  the  pot."  And  Darby  crammed 
him  into  the  box. 

"  O  Mrs.  Kelleher,  be  merciful  to  me,"  said  the  doc- 
tor, "  and  whenever  you  're  sick  I  '11  attend  you." 

"God  forbid'."  said  Oonah;  "it's  not  the  likes  o' 
you  I  want  when  I  'm  sick ;  —  attind  me,  indeed  !  bad 
luck  to  you,  you  little  imp,  maybe  you  'd  run  away  with 
4*  p 


82  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

my  babby,  or  it 's  a  Banshee  you  'd  turn  yourself  into, 
and  sing  for  my  death.  Shut  him  up,  Darby ;  it 's  not 
looky  to  be  howldin'  discoorse  wid  the  likes  iv  him." 

"  Oh  !  "  roared  the  doctor,  as  his  cries  were  stifled  by 
the  lid  of  the  chest  being  closed  on  him.  The  key  was 
turned,  and  Oonah  sprinkled  some  holy  water  she  had 
in  a  little  bottle  that  hung  in  one  corner  of  the  cabin 
over  the  lock,  to  prevent  the  fairy  having  any  power 
upon  it. 

Darby  and  Oonah  now  sat  down  in  consultation  on 
their  affairs,  and  began  forming  their  plans  on  an  exten- 
sive scale,  as  to  what  they  were  to  do  with  their  money, 
for  have  it  they  must,  now  that  the  Leprechaun  was 
fairly  in  their  power.  Now  and  then  Darby  would  rise 
and  go  over  to  the  chest,  very  much  as  one  goes  to  the 
door  of  a  room  where  a  naughty  child  has  been  locked 
up,  to  know  "  if  it  be  good  yet,"  and  giving  a  thump 
on  the  lid  would  exclaim,  "  Well,  you  little  vagabone, 
will  you  gi'  me  the  goold  yet  ?  " 

A  groan  and  a  faint  answer  of  denial  was  all  the  reply 
he  received. 

"  Very  well,  stay  there ;  but,  remember,  if  you  don't 
consint  before  night  I  '11  chop  you  to  pieces."  He  then 
got  his  bill-hook,  and  began  to  sharpen  it  close  by  the 
chest,  that  the  Leprechaun  might  hear  him ;  and  when 
the  poor  doctor  heard  this  process  going  forward,  he  felt 
more  dead  than  alive ;  the  horrid  scraping  of  the  iron 
against  the  stone  being  interspersed  with  occasional  in- 
terjectional  passages  from  Darby,  such  as,  "  Do  you  hear 
that,  you  thief?  I  'm  gettin'  ready  for  you."  Then  away 
fie  'd  rasp  at  the  grindstone  again,  and,  as  he  paused  to 


THE   FAIRY-FINDER.  83 

feel  the  edge  of  the  weapon,  exclaim,  "  By  the  powers, 
I  '11  have  it  as  sharp  as  a  razhir." 

In  the  mean  time  it  was  well  for  the  prisoner  that 
there  were  many  large  chinks  in  the  chest,  or  suffocation 
from  his  confinement  would  have  anticipated  Darby's 
pious  intentions  upon  him ;  and  when  he  found  matters 
likely  to  go  so  hard  with  him,  the  thought  struck  him  at 
last  of  affecting  to  be  what  Darby  mistook  him  for,  and 
regaining  his  freedom  by  stratagem. 

To  this  end,  when  Darby  had  done  sharpening  his  bill- 
hook, the  doctor  replied,  in  answer  to  one  of  Darby's 
summonses  for  gold,  that  he  saw  it  was  in  vain  longer 
to  deny  giving  it,  that  Darby  was  too  cunning  for  him, 
and  that  he  was  ready  to  make  him  the  richest  man  in 
the  country. 

"I'll  take  no  less  than  the  full  o'  that  chest,"  said 
Darby. 

"  You  '11  have  ten  times  the  full  of  it,  Darby,"  said  the 
doctor,  "  if  you  '11  only  do  what  I  bid  you." 

"Sure  I '11  do  anything." 

"Well,  you  must  first  prepare  the  mystificand-herum- 
brandherum." 

"  Tare  an  ouns,  how  do  I  know  what  that  is  ?  " 

"  Silence,  Darby  Kelleher,  and  attend  to  me :  that 's 
a  magical  ointment,  which  I  will  show  you  how  to  make ; 
and  whenever  you  want  gold,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to 
rub  a  little  of  it  on  the  point  of  a  pickaxe  or  your  spade, 
and  dig  wherever  you  please,  and  you  will  be  sure  to 
find  treasure." 

"  0,  think  o'  that  J  faix,  an'  I  '11  make  plenty  of  it, 
when  you  show  me.  How  is  it  made?" 


84  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"  You  must  go  into  the  town,  Darby,  and  get  me  three 
things,  and  fold  them  three  times  in  three  rags  torn  out 
of  the  left  side  of  a  petticoat  that  has  not  known  water 
for  a  year." 

"  Faith,  I  can  do  that  much,  anyhow,"  said  Oonah, 
who  began  tearing  the  prescribed  pieces  out  of  her  under- 
garment. 

"  And  what  three  things  am  I  to  get  you  ?  " 

"First  bring  me  a  grain  of  salt  from  a  house  that 
stands  at  cross-roads." 

"  Crass  roads ! "  said  Darby,  looking  significantly  at 
Oonah.  "  By  my  sowl,  but  it 's  my  dhrame  's  comin* 
out ! " 

"  Silence,  Darby  Kelleher,"  said  the  doctor  with  great 
solemnity;  "mark  me,  Darby  Kelleher."  And  then 
he  proceeded  to  repeat  a  parcel  of  gibberish  to  Darby, 
which  he  enjoined  him  to  remember,  and  repeat  again ; 
but  as  Darby  could  not,  the  doctor  said  he  should  only 
write  it  down  for  him,  and,  tearing  a  leaf  from  his 
pocket-book,  he  wrote  in  pencil  a  few  words,  stating  the 
condition  he  was  in,  and  requesting  assistance.  This 
slip  of  paper  he  desired  Darby  to  deliver  to  the  apothe- 
cary in  the  town,  who  would  give  him  a  drug  that  would 
complete  the  making  of  the  ointment. 

Darby  went  to  the  apothecary's  as  he  was  desired,  and 
it  happened  to  be  dinner-time  when  he  arrived.  The 
apothecary  had  a  few  friends  dining  with  him,  and  Darby 
was  detained  until  they  chose  to  leave  the  table,  and  go, 
in  a  body,  to  liberate  the  poor  little  doctor.  He  was 
pulled  out  of  the  chest  amidst  the  laughter  of  his  liber- 
ators and  the  fury  of  Darby  and  Oonah,  who  both  made 


THE   FAIRY-FINDEB.  85 

considerable  fight  against  being  robbed  of  their  prize. 
At  last  the  doctor's  friends  got  him  out  of  the  house, 
and  proceeded  to  the  town  to  supper,  where  the  whole 
party  kept  getting  magnificently  drunk,  until  sleep 
plunged  them  into  dizzy  dreams  of  Leprechauns  and 
Fairy-Finders. 

The  doctor  for  some  days  swore  vengeance  against 
Darby,  and  threatened  a  prosecution;  but  his  friends 
recommended  him  to  let  the  matter  rest,  as  it  would 
only  tend  to  make  the  affair  more  public,  and  get  him 
nothing  but  laughter  for  damages. 

As  for  Darby  Kelleher,  nothing  could  ever  persuade 
him  that  it  was  not  a  real  Leprechaun  he  had  caught, 
which  by  some  villanous  contrivance,  on  the  Fairy's 
part,  changed  itself  into  the  semblance  of  the  doctor ; 
and  he  often  said  the  great  mistake  he  made  was  "  givin' 
the  little  vagabone  so  much  time,  for  that  if  he  had  done 
right  he  'd  have  set  about  cutting  his  throat  at  wanst." 


MUBAD   THE  UNLUCKY. 

BY  MARIA  EDGEWORTH. 

I. 

jjT  is  well  known  that  the  grand  seignior  amuses 
himself  by  going  at  night,  in  disguise,  through 
the  streets  of  Constantinople ;  as  the  caliph, 
Haroun  Alraschid,  used  formerly  to  do  in  Bagdad. 

One  moonlight  night,  accompanied  by  his  grand  vizier, 
he  traversed  several  of  the  principal  streets  of  the  city, 
without  seeing  anything  remarkable.  At  length,  as  they 
were  passing  a  rope-maker's,  the  sultan  recollected  the 
Arabian  story  of  Cogia-Hassan  Alhabal,  the  rope-maker, 
and  his  two  friends,  Saad  and  Saadi,  who  differed  so 
much  in  their  opinion  concerning  the  influence  of  for- 
tune over  human  affairs. 

"What  is  your  opinion  on  this  subject?"  said  the 
grand  seignior  to  his  vizier. 

"I  am  inclined,  please  your  majesty,"  replied  the  viz- 
ier, "to  think  that  success  in  the  world  depends  more 
upon  prudence  than  upon  what  is  called  luck,  or  fortune." 

"  And  I,"  said  the  sultan,  "  am  persuaded  that  fortune 


MUEAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  87 

does  more  for  men  than  prudence.  Do  you  not  every 
day  hear  of  persons  who  are  said  to  be  fortunate  or  urn- 
fortunate  ?  How  comes  it  that  this  opinion  should  pre- 
vail amongst  men,  if  it  be  not  justified  by  experience  ?  " 

"  It  is  not  for  me  to  dispute  with  your  majesty,"  re- 
plied the  prudent  vizier. 

"  Speak  your  mind  freely ;  I  desire  and  command  it," 
said  the  sultan. 

"  Then  I  am  of  opinion,"  answered  the  vizier,  "  that 
people  are  often  led  to  believe  others  fortunate,  or  unfor- 
tunate, merely  because  they  only  know  the  general  out- 
line of  their  histories ;  and  are  ignorant  of  the  incidents 
and  events  in  which  they  have  shown  prudence  or  im- 
prudence. I  have  heard,  for  instance,  that  there  are  at 
present  in  this  city  two  men,  who  are  remarkable  for 
their  good  and  bad  fortune :  one  is  called  Murad  the 
Unlucky,  and  the  other  Saladin  the  Lucky.  Now  I  am 
inclined  to  think,  if  we  could  hear  their  stories,  we 
should  find  that  one  is  a  prudent  and  the  other  an  im- 
prudent character." 

"  Where  do  these  men  live  ?  "  interrupted  the  sultan. 
"  I  will  hear  their  histories  from  their  own  lips,  before  I 
sleep." 

"  Murad  the  Unlucky  lives  in  the  next  square,"  said 
the  vizier. 

The  sultan  desired  to  go  thither  immediately.  Scarcely 
had  they  entered  the  square,  when  they  heard  the  cry  of 
loud  lamentations.  They  followed  the  sound  till  they 
came  to  a  house  of  which  the  door  was  open,  and  where 
there  was  a  man  tearing  his  turban,  and  weeping  bitterly. 
They  asked  the  cause  of  his  distress,  and  he  pointed  to 


88  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

the  fragments  of  a  china  vase,  which  lay  on  the  pave- 
ment at  his  door. 

"  This  seems  undoubtedly  to  be  beautiful  china,"  said 
the  sultan,  taking  up  one  of  the  broken  pieces ;  "  but 
can  the  loss  of  a  china  vase  be  the  cause  of  such  violent 
grief  and  despair  ?  " 

"  Ah,  gentlemen,"  said  the  owner  of  the  vase,  sus- 
pending his  lamentations,  and  looking  at  the  dress  of 
the  pretended  merchants,  "  I  see  that  you  are  strangers : 
you  do  not  know  how  much  cause  I  have  for  grief  and 
despair!  You  do  not  know  that  you  are  speaking  to 
Murad  the  Unlucky !  Were  you  to  hear  all  the  unfor- 
tunate accidents  that  have  happened  to  me,  from  the 
time  I  was  born  till  this  instant,  you  would  perhaps  pity 
me,  and  acknowledge  I  have  just  cause  for  despair." 

Curiosity  was  strongly  expressed  by  the  sultan ;  and 
the  hope  of  obtaining  sympathy  inclined  Murad  to 
gratify  it,  by  the  recital  of  his  adventures.  "Gentle- 
men," said  he,  "  I  scarcely  dare  invite  you  into  the 
house  of  such  an  unlucky  being  as  I  am ;  but,  if  you 
will  venture  to  take  a  night's  lodging  under  my  roof, 
you  shall  hear  at  your  leisure  the  story  of  my  misfor- 
tunes." 

The  sultan  and  the  vizier  excused  themselves  from 
spending  the  night  with  Murad ;  saying  that  they  were 
obliged  to  proceed  to  their  khan,  where  they  should  be 
expected  by  their  companions :  but  they  begged  permis- 
sion to  repose  themselves  for  half  an  hour  in  his  house, 
and  besought  him  to  relate  the  history  of  his  life,  if  it 
would  not  renew  his  grief  too  much  tt  recollect  his  mis- 
fortunes. 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  89 

Few  men  are  so  miserable  as  not  to  like  to  talk  of 
their  misfortunes,  where  they  have,  or  where  they  think 
they  have,  any  chance  of  obtaining  compassion.  As  soon 
as  the  pretended  merchants  were  seated,  Murad  began 
his  story  in  the  following  manner :  — 

"  My  father  was  a  merchant  of  this  city.  The  night 
before  I  was  born,  he  dreamed  that  I  came  into  the 
world  with  the  head  of  a  dog  and  the  tail  of  a  dragon ; 
and  that,  in  haste  to  conceal  my  deformity,  he  rolled  me 
up  in  a  piece  of  linen,  which  unluckily  proved  to  be  the 
grand  seignior's  turban ;  who,  enraged  at  his  insolence 
in  touching  his  turban,  commanded  that  his  head  should 
be  struck  off. 

"  My  father  awaked  before  he  lost  his  head,  but  not 
before  he  had  lost  half  his  wits  from  the  terror  of  his 
dream.  He  considered  it  as  a  warning  sent  from  above, 
and  consequently  determined  to  avoid  the  sight  of  me. 
He  would  not  stay  to  see  whether  I  should  really  be 
born  with  the  head  of  a  dog  and  the  tail  of  a  dragon ; 
but  he  set  out,  the  next  morning,  on  a  voyage  to 
Aleppo. 

"He  was  absent  for  upwards  of  seven  years;  and 
during  that  time  my  education  was  totally  neglected. 
One  day  I  inquired  from  my  mother  why  I  had  been 
named  Murad  the  Unlucky.  She  told  me  that  this 
name  was  given  to  me  in  consequence  of  my  father's 
dream ;  but  she  added  that  perhaps  it  might  be  for- 
gotten, if  I  proved  fortunate  in  my  future  life.  My 
nurse,  a  very  old  woman,  who  was  present,  shook  her 
head,  with  a  look  which  I  shall  never  forget,  and  whis- 
pered to  my  mother  loud  enough  for  me  to  hear, '  Unlucky 


90  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

he  was,  and  is,  and  ever  will  be.  Those  that  are  born  to 
ill  luck  cannot  help  themselves;  nor  can  any,  but  the 
great  prophet  Mahomet  himself,  do  anything  for  them. 
It  is  a  folly  for  an  unlucky  person  to  strive  with  his 
fate :  it  is  better  to  yield  to  it  at  once.' 

"  This  speech  made  a  terrible  impression  upon  me, 
young  as  I  then  was  ;  and  every  accident  that  happened 
to  me  afterwards  confirmed  my  belief  in  my  nurse's 
prognostic.  I  was  in  my  eighth  year  when  my  father 
returned  from  abroad.  The  year  after  he  came  home 
my  brother  Saladin  was  born,  who  was  named  Saladin 
the  Lucky,  because  the  day  he  was  born  a  vessel 
freighted  with  rich  merchandise  for  my  father  arrived 
safely  in  port. 

"  I  will  not  weary  you  with  a  relation  of  all  the  little 
instances  of  good  fortune  by  which  my  brother  Saladin 
was  distinguished,  even  during  his  childhood.  As  he 
grew  up,  his  success  in  everything  he  undertook  was  as 
remarkable  as  my  ill  luck  in  all  that  I  attempted.  From 
the  time  the  rich  vessel  arrived,  we  lived  in  splendor  ; 
and  the  supposed  prosperous  state  of  my  father's  affairs 
was  of  course  attributed  to  the  influence  of  my  brother 
Saladin's  happy  destiny. 

"  When  Saladin  was  about  twenty,  my  father  was 
taken  dangerously  ill ;  and  as  he  felt  that  he  should  not 
recover,  he  sent  for  my  brother  to  the  side  of  his  bed, 
and,  to  his  great  surprise,  informed  him  that  the  mag- 
nificence in  which  we  had  lived  had  exhausted  all  his 
wealth ;  that  his  affairs  were  in  the  greatest  disorder ; 
for,  having  trusted  to  the  hope  of  continual  success,  he 
had  embarked  in  projects  beyond  his  powers. 


MUKAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  91 

"  The  sequel  was,  he  had  nothing  remaining  to  leave 
to  his  children  but  two  large  china  vases,  remarkable  for 
their  beauty,  but  still  more  valuable  on  account  of  cer- 
tain verses  inscribed  upon  them  in  an  unknown  charac- 
ter, which  was  supposed  to  operate  as  a  talisman  or 
charm  in  favor  of  their  possessors. 

"  Both  these  vases  my  father  bequeathed  to  my  brother 
Saladin ;  declaring  he  could  not  venture  to  leave  either 
of  them  to  me,  because  I  was  so  unlucky  that  I  should 
inevitably  break  it.  After  his  death,  however,  my  brother 
Saladin,  who  was  blessed  with  a  generous  temper,  gave 
me  my  choice  of  the  two  vases  ;  and  endeavored  to  raise 
my  spirits,  by  repeating  frequently  that  he  had  no  faith 
either  in  good  fortune  or  ill  fortune. 

"I  could  not  be  of  his  opinion,  though  I  felt  and 
acknowledged  his  kindness  in  trying  to  persuade  me  out 
of  my  settled  melancholy.  I  knew  it  was  in  vain  for 
me  to  exert  myself,  because  I  was  sure  that,  do  what 
I  would,  I  should  still  be  Murad  the  Unlucky.  My 
brother,  on  the  contrary,  was  nowise  cast  down,  even 
by  the  poverty  in  which  my  father  left  us :  he  said  he 
was  sure  he  should  find  some  means  of  maintaining  him- 
self, and  so  he  did. 

"  On  examining  our  china  vases,  he  found  in  them  a 
powder  of  a  bright  scarlet  color ;  and  it  occurred  to  him 
that  it  would  make  a  fine  dye.  He  tried  it,  and  after 
some  trouble,  it  succeeded  to  admiration. 

"  During  my  father's  lifetime,  my  mother  had  been 
supplied  with  rich  dresses,  by  one  of  the  merchants  who 
was  employed  by  the  ladies  of  the  grand  seignior's  se- 
raglio. My  brother  had  done  this  merchant  some  trifling 


92  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

favors;  and,  upon  application  to  him,  he  readily  en- 
gaged to  recommend  the  new  scarlet  dye.  Indeed,  it 
was  so  beautiful,  that,  the  moment  it  was  seen,  it  was 
preferred  to  every  other  color.  Saladin's  shop  was  soon 
crowded  with  customers  ;  and  his  winning  manners  and 
pleasant  conversation  were  almost  as  advantageous  to  him 
as  his  scarlet  dye.  On  the  contrary,  I  observed  that  the 
first  glance  at  my  melancholy  countenance  was  sufficient 
to  disgust  every  one  who  saw  me.  I  perceived  this 
plainly ;  and  it  only  confirmed  me  the  more  in  my  be- 
lief in  my  own  evil  destiny. 

"  It  happened  one  day  that  a  lady,  richly  apparelled 
and  attended  by  two  female  slaves,  came  to  my  brother's 
house  to  make  some  purchases.  He  was  out,  and  I 
alone  was  left  to  attend  to  the  shop.  After  she  had 
looked  over  some  goods,  she  chanced  to  see  my  china 
vase,  which  was  in  the  room.  She  took  a  prodigious 
fancy  to  it,  and  offered  me  any  price  if  I  would  part 
with  it ;  but  this  I  declined  doing,  because  I  believed 
that  I  should  draw  down  upon  my  head  some  dreadful 
calamity,  if  I  voluntarily  relinquished  the  talisman.  Ir- 
ritated by  my  refusal,  the  lady,  according  to  the  custom 
of  her  sex,  became  more  resolute  in  her  purpose;  but 
neither  entreaties  nor  money  could  change  my  determi- 
nation. Provoked  beyond  measure  at  my  obstinacy,  as 
she  called  it,  she  left  the  house. 

"  On  my  brother's  return,  I  related  to  him  what  had 
happened,  and  expected  that  he  would  have  praised  me 
for  my  prudence;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  blamed  me 
for  the  superstitious  value  I  set  upon  the  verses  on  my 
vase ;  and  observed  that  it  would  be  the  height  of  folly 


MUEAD  THE   UNLUCKY.  93 

to  lose  a  certain  means  of  advancing  my  fortune,  for  the 
uncertain  hope  of  magical  protection.  I  could  not  bring 
myself  to  be  of  his  opinion ;  I  had  not  the  courage  to 
follow  the  advice  he  gave.  The  next  day  the  lady  re- 
turned, and  my  brother  sold  his  vase  to  her  for  ten 
thousand  pieces  of  gold.  This  money  he  laid  out  in  the 
most  advantageous  manner,  by  purchasing  a  new  stock 
of  merchandise.  I  repented,  when  it  was  too  late  ;  but 
I  believe  it  is  part  of  the  fatality  attending  certain  per- 
sons, that  they  cannot  decide  rightly  at  the  proper  mo- 
ment. When  the  opportunity  has  been  lost,  I  have 
always  regretted  that  I  did  not  do  exactly  the  contrary 
to  what  I  had  previously  determined  upon.  Often,  whilst 
I  was  hesitating,  the  favorable  moment  passed.  Now 
this  is  what  I  call  being  unlucky.  But  to  proceed  with 
my  story. 

"  The  kdy,  who  bought  my  brother  Saladin's  vase,  was 
the  favorite  of  the  sultan,  and  all-powerful  in  the  seraglio. 
Her  dislike  to  me,  in  consequence  of  my  opposition  to 
her  wishes,  was  so  violent,  that  she  refused  to  return  to 
my  brother's  house  while  I  remained  there.  He  was 
unwilling  to  part  with  me ;  but  I  could  not  bear  to  be 
the  ruin  of  so  good  a  brother.  Without  telling  him  my 
design,  I  left  his  house,  careless  of  what  should  become 
of  me.  Hunger,  however,  soon  compelled  me  to  think 
of  some  immediate  mode  of  obtaining  relief.  I  sat  down 
upon  a  stone,  before  the  door  of  a  baker's  shop ;  the 
smell  of  hot  bread  tempted  me  in,  and  with  a  feeble 
voice  I  demanded  charity. 

"  The  master  baker  gave  me  as  much  bread  as  I  could 
eat,  upon  condition  that  I  should  change  dresses  with 


94  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

him,  and  carry  the  rolls  for  him  through  the  city  this 
day.  To  this  I  readily  consented ;  but  I  had  soon  rea- 
son to  repent  of  my  compliance.  Indeed,  if  my  ill  luck 
had  not,  as  usual,  deprived  me  at  this  critical  moment 
of  memory  and  judgment,  I  should  never  have  complied 
with  the  baker's  treacherous  proposal.  For  some  time 
before,  the  people  of  Constantinople  had  been  much 
dissatisfied  with  the  weight  and  quality  of  the  bread 
furnished  by  the  bakers.  This  species  of  discontent  has 
often  been  the  sure  forerunner  of  an  insurrection ;  and, 
in  these  disturbances,  the  master  bakers  frequently  lose 
their  lives.  All  these  circumstances  I  knew;  but  they 
did  not  occur  to  my  memory,  when  they  might  have 
been  useful. 

"  I  changed  dresses  with  the  baker ;  but  scarcely  had 
I  proceeded  through  the  adjoining  streets  with  my  rolls, 
before  the  mob  began  to  gather  round  me,  with  re- 
proaches and  execrations.  The  crowd  pursued  me  even 
to  the  gates  of  the  grand  seignior's  palace ;  and  the 
grand  vizier,  alarmed  at  their  violence,  sent  out  an 
order  to  have  my  head  struck  off;  the  usual  remedy,  in 
such  cases,  being  to  strike  off  the  baker's  head. 

"  I  now  fell  upon  my  knees,  and  protested  I  was  not 
the  baker  for  whom  they  took  me ;  that  I  had  no  con- 
nection with  him ;  and  that  I  had  never  furnished  the 
people  of  Constantinople  with  bread  that  was  not  weight. 
I  declared  I  had  merely  changed  clothes  with  a  master 
baker,  for  this  day ;  and  that  I  should  not  have  done  so, 
but  for  the  evil  destiny  which  governs  all  my  actions. 
Some  of  the  mob  exclaimed  that  I  deserved  to  lose  my 
head  for  my  folly;  but  others  took  pity  on  me,  and 


MURAD    THE   UNLUCKY.  95 

•whilst  the  officer,  who  was  sent  to  execute  the  vizier's 
order,  turned  to  speak  to  some  of  the  noisy  rioters,  those 
who  were  touched  by  my  misfortune  opened  a  passage 
for  me  through  the  crowd,  and,  thus  favored,  I  effected 
my  escape. 

"  I  quitted  Constantinople :  my  vase  I  had  left  in  the 
care  of  my  brother.  At  some  miles'  distance  from  the 
city,  I  overtook  a  party  of  soldiers.  I  joined  them ;  and 
learning  that  they  were  going  to  embark  with  the  rest  of 
the  grand  seignior's  army  for  Egypt,  I  resolved  to  accom- 
pany them.  If  it  be,  thought  I,  the  will  of  Mahomet 
that  I  should  perish,  the  sooner  I  meet  my  fate  the 
better.  The  despondency  into  which  I  was  sunk  was 
attended  by  so  great  a  degree  of  indolence,  that  I  scarcely 
would  take  the  necessary  means  to  preserve  my  existence. 
'During  our  passage  to  Egypt,  I  sat  all  day  long  upon  the 
deck  of  the  vessel,  smoking  my  pipe ;  and  I  am  convinced 
that  if  a  storm  had  risen,  as  I  expected,  I  should  not 
have  taken  my  pipe  from  my  mouth,  nor  should  I  have 
handled  a  rope,  to  save  myself  from  destruction.  Such 
is  the  effect  of  that  species  of  resignation  or  torpor, 
whichever  you  please  to  call  it,  to  which  my  strong 
belief  in  fatality  had  reduced  my  mind. 

"  We  landed,  however,  safely,  contrary  to  my  melan- 
choly forebodings.  By  a  trifling  accident,  not  worth 
relating,  I  was  detained  longer  than  any  of  my  compan- 
ions in  the  vessel  when  we  disembarked ;  and  I  did  not 
arrive  at  the  camp  till  late  at  night.  It  was  moonlight, 
and  I  could  see  the  whole  scene  distinctly.  There  was 
a  vast  number  of  small  tents  scattered  over  a  desert  of 
white  sand ;  a  few  date-trees  were  visible  at  a  distance ; 


96  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

all  was  gloomy,  and  all  still ;  no  sound  was  to  be  heard 
but  that  of  the  camels,  feeding  near  the  tents ;  and,  as  I 
walked  on,  I  met  with  no  human  creature. 

"  My  pipe  was  now  out,  and  1  quickened  my  pace  a 
little  towards  a  fire,  which  I  saw  near  one  of  the  tents. 
As  I  proceeded,  my  eye  was  caught  by  something  spark- 
ling in  the  sand :  it  was  a  ring.  I  picked  it  up,  and  put 
it  on  my  finger,  resolving  to  give  it  to  the  public  crier 
the  next  morning,  who  might  find  out  its  rightful  owner : 
but  by  ill  luck,  I  put  it  on  my  little  finger,  for  which  it 
was  much  too  large ;  and  as  I  hastened  towards  the  fire  to 
light  my  pipe,  I  dropped  the  ring.  I  stooped  to  search 
for  it  amongst  the  provender  on  which  a  mule  was  feed- 
ing ;  and  the  cursed  animal  gave  me  so  violent  a  kick  on 
the  head,  that  I  could  not  help  roaring  aloud. 

"  My  cries  awakened  those  who  slept  in  the  tent,  near 
which  the  mule  was  feeding.  Provoked  at  being  dis- 
turbed, the  soldiers  were  ready  enough  to  think  ill  of 
me ;  and  they  took  it  for  granted  that  I  was  a  thief,  who 
had  stolen  the  ring  I  pretended  to  have  just  found.  The 
ring  was  taken  from  me  by  force ;  and  the  next  day  I 
was  bastinadoed* for  having  found  it:  the  oflicer  persist- 
ing in  the  belief  that  stripes  would  make  me  confess 
where  I  had  concealed  certain  other  articles  of  value, 
which  had  lately  been  missed  in  the  camp.  All  this  was 
the  consequence  of  my  being  in  a  hurry  to  light  my  pipe, 
and  of  my  having  put  the  ring  on  a  finger  that  was  too 
little  for  it ;  which  no  one  but  Murad  the  Unlucky  would 
have  done. 

"When  I  was  able  to  walk  again  after  my  wounds 
were  healed,  I  went  into  one  of  the  tents  distinguished 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  97 

by  a  red  flag,  having  been  told  that  these  were  coffee- 
houses. Whilst  I  was  drinking  coffee,  I  heard  a  stranger 
near  me  complaining  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  recover 
a  valuable  ring  he  had  lost ;  although  he  had  caused  his 
loss  to  be  published  for  three  days  by  the  public  crier, 
offering  a  reward  of  two  hundred  sequins  to  whoever 
should  restore  it.  I  guessed  that  this  was  the  very  ring 
which  I  had  unfortunately  found.  I  addressed  myself  to 
the  stranger,  and  promised  to  point  out  to  him  the  per- 
son who  had  forced  it  from  me.  The  stranger  recovered 
his  ring ;  and,  being  convinced  that  I  had  acted  honestly, 
he  made  me  a  present  of  two  hundred  sequins,  as  some 
amends  for  the  punishment  which  I  had  unjustly  suffered 
on  his  account. 

"  Now  you  would  imagine  that  this  purse  of  gold  was 
advantageous  to  me :  far  the  contrary ;  it  was  the  cause 
of  new  misfortunes. 

"One  night,  when  I  thought  that  the  soldiers  who 
were  in  the  same  tent  with  me  were  all  fast  asleep,  J 
indulged  myself  in  the  pleasure  of  counting  my  treasure. 
The  next  day  I  was  invited  by  my  companions  to  drinli 
sherbet  with  them.  What  they  mixed  with  the  sherbet 
which  I  drank,  I  know  not ;  but  I  could  not  resist  the 
drowsiness  it  brought  on.  I  fell  into  a  profound  slum- 
ber ;  and,  when  I  awoke,  I  found  myself  lying  under  a 
date-tree,  at  some  distance  from  the  camp. 

"The  first  thing  I  thought  of,  when  I  came  to  my 
recollection,  was  my  purse  of  sequins.  The  purse  I 
found  still  safe  in  my  girdle ;  but,  on  opening  it,  I  per- 
ceived that  it  was  filled  with  pebbles,  and  not  a  single 
sequin  was  left.  I  had  no  doubt  that  I  had  been  robbed 

VOL.  XII.  5  & 


98  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

by  the  soldiers  with  whom  I  had  drunk  sherbet ;  and  I 
am  certain  that  some  of  them  must  have  been  awake  the 
night  I  counted  my  money ;  otherwise,  as  I  had  never 
trusted  the  secret  of  my  riches  to  any  one,  they  could 
not  have  suspected  me  of  possessing  any  property ;  for, 
ever  since  I  kept  company  with  them,  I  had  appeared  to 
be  in  great  indigence. 

"  I  applied  in  vain  to  the  superior  officers  for  redress : 
the  soldiers  protested  they  were  innocent;  no  positive 
proof  appeared  against  them,  and  I  gained  nothing  by 
my  complaint  but  ridicule  and  ill-will.  I  called  myself, 
in  the  first  transport  of  my  grief,  by  that  name  which, 
since  my  arrival  in  Egypt,  I  had  avoided  to  pronounce : 
I  called  myself  Murad  the  Unlucky  !  The  name  and  the 
story  ran  through  the  camp ;  and  I  was  accosted  after- 
wards, very  frequently,  by  this  appellation.  Some  indeed 
varied  their  wit  by  calling  me  Murad  with  the  purse  of 
pebbles. 

"  All  that  I  had  yet  suffered  is  nothing  compared  to 
my  succeeding  misfortunes. 

"  It  was  the  custom  at  this  time,  in  the  Turkish  camp, 
for  the  soldiers  to  amuse  themselves  with  firing  at  a 
mark.  The  superior  officers  remonstrated  against  this 
dangerous  practice,  but  ineffectually.  Sometimes  a  party 
of  soldiers  would  stop  firing  for  a  few  minutes,  after  a 
message  was  brought  them  from  their  commanders ;  and 
then  they  would  begin  again,  in  defiance  of  all  orders. 
Such  was  the  want  of  discipline  in  our  army,  that  this  dis- 
obedience went  unpunished.  In  the  mean  time,  the  fre- 
quency of  the  danger  made  most  men  totally  regardless 
of  it.  I  have  seen  tents  pierced  with  bullets,  in  which 


MURAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  99 

parties  -were  quietly  seated  smoking  their  pipes,  whilst 
those  without  were  preparing  to  take  fresh  aim  at  the 
red  flag  on  the  top. 

"  This  apathy  proceeded,  in  some,  from  unconquerable 
indolence  of  body ;  in  others,  from  the  intoxication  pro- 
duced by  the  fumes  of  tobacco  and  of  opium;  but  in 
most  of  my  brother  Turks  it  arose  from  the  confidence 
which  the  belief  in  predestination  inspired.  When  a 
bullet  killed  one  of  their  companions,  they  only  observed, 
scarcely  taking  the  pipes  from  their  mouths,  '  Our  hour 
is  not  yet  come  :  it  is  not  the  will  of  Mahomet  that  we 
should  fall.' 

"  I  own  that  this  rash  security  appeared  to  me,  at  first, 
surprising ;  but  it  soon  ceased  to  strike  me  with  wonder ; 
and  it  even  tended  to  confirm  my  favorite  opinion,  that 
some  were  born  to  good  and  some  to  evil  fortune.  I 
became  almost  as  careless  as  my  companions,  from  fol- 
lowing the  same  course  of  reasoning.  It  is  not,  thought 
I,  in  the  power  of  human  prudence  to  avert  the  stroke  of 
destiny.  I  shall  perhaps  die  to-morrow ;  let  me  there- 
fore enjoy  to-day. 

"  I  now  made  it  my  study,  every  day,  to  procure  as 
much  amusement  as  possible.  My  poverty,  as  you  will 
imagine,  restricted  me  from  indulgence  and  excess ;  but 
I  soon  found  means  to  spend  what  did  not  actually  be- 
long to  me.  There  were  certain  Jews  who  were  follow- 
ers of  the  camp,  and  who,  calculating  on  the  probability 
of  victory  for  our  troops,  advanced  money  to  the  soldiers ; 
for  which  they  engaged  to  pay  these  usurers  exorbitant 
interest.  The  Jew  to  whom  I  applied  traded  with  me 
also  upon  the  belief  that  my  brother  Saladin,  with  whose 


100  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

character  and  circumstances  he  was  acquainted,  would 
pay  my  debts,  if  I  should  fall.  With  the  money  I  raised 
from  the  Jew  I  continually  bought  coffee  and  opium,  of 
which  I  grew  immoderately  fond.  In  the  delirium  it 
created,  I  forgot  all  my  misfortunes,  all  fear  of  the 
future. 

"  One  day,  when  I  had  raised  my  spirits  by  an  unusual 
quantity  of  opium,  I  was  strolling  through  the  camp, 
sometimes  singing,  sometimes  dancing,  like  a  madman, 
and  repeating  that  I  was  not  now  Murad  the  Unlucky. 
Whilst  these  words  were  on  my  lips,  a  friendly  spectator, 
who  was  in  possession  of  his  sober  senses,  caught  me 
by  the  arm,  and  attempted  to  drag  me  from  the  place 
where  I  was  exposing  myself.  '  Do  you  not  see/  said 
he, '  those  soldiers,  who  are  firing  at  a  mark  ?  I  saw  one 
of  them,  just  now,  deliberately  taking  aim  at  your  tur- 
ban ;  and,  observe,  he  is  now  reloading  his  piece.'  My 
ill  luck  prevailed  even  at  this  instant,  the  only  instant 
in  my  life  when  I  defied  its  power.  I  struggled  with  my 
adviser,  repeating,  '  I  am  not  the  wretch  you  take  me 
for ;  I  am  not  Murad  the  Unlucky.'  He  fled  from  the 
danger  himself :  I  remained,  and  in  a  few  seconds  after- 
wards a  ball  reached  me,  and  I  fell  senseless  on  the 
sand. 

"  The  ball  was  cut  out  of  my  body  by  an  awkward 
surgeon,  who  gave  me  ten  times  more  pain  than  was 
necessary.  He  was  particularly  hurried,  at  this  time, 
because  the  army  had  just  received  orders  to  march  in 
a  few  hours,  and  all  was  confusion  in  the  camp.  My 
wound  was  excessively  painful,  and  the  fear  of  being  left 
behind  with  those  who  were  deemed  incurable  added  to 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  101 

my  torments.  Perhaps,  if  I  had  kept  myself  quiet,  I 
might  have  escaped  some  of  the  evils  I  afterwards  en- 
dured ;  but,  as  I  have  repeatedly  told  you,  gentlemen, 
it  was  my  ill  fortune  never  to  be  able  to  judge  what 
was  best  to  be  done,  till  the  time  for  prudence  was 
past. 

"  During  that  day,  when  my  fever  was  at  the  height,  and 
when  my  orders  were  to  keep  my  bed,  contrary  to  my 
natural  habits  of  indolence,  I  rose  a  hundred  times,  and 
went  out  of  my  tent  in  the  very  heat  of  the  day,  to  sat- 
isfy my  curiosity  as  to  the  number  of  the  tents  which  had 
not  been  struck,  and  of  the  soldiers  who  had  not  yet 
marched.  The  orders  to  march  were  tardily  obeyed,  and 
many  hours  elapsed  before  our  encampment  was  raised. 
Had  I  submitted  to  my  surgeon's  orders,  I  might  have 
been  in  a  state  to  accompany  the  most  dilatory  of  the 
stragglers ;  I  could  have  borne,  perhaps,  the  slow  motion 
of  a  litter,  on  which  some  of  the  sick  were  transported ; 
but  in  the  evening,  when  the  surgeon  came  to  dress  my 
wounds,  he  found  me  in  such  a  situation  that  it  was 
scarcely  possible  to  remove  me. 

"He  desired  a  party  of  soldiers,  who  were  left  to 
bring  up  the  rear,  to  call  for  me  the  next  morning. 
They  did  so ;  but  they  wanted  to  put  me  upon  the  mule 
which  I  recollected,  by  a  white  streak  on  its  back,  to  be 
the  cursed  animal  that  had  kicked  me  whilst  I  was  look- 
ing for  the  ring.  I  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  go 
upon  this  unlucky  animal.  I  tried  to  persuade  the  sol- 
diers to  carry  me,  and  they  took  me  a  little  way ;  but, 
soon  growing  weary  of  their  burden,  they  laid  me  down 
on  the  sand,  pretending  that  they  were  going  to  fill  a 


102  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

skin  with  water  at  a  spring  they  had  discovered,  and  bade 
me  lie  still,  and  wait  for  their  return. 

"  I  waited  and  waited,  longing  for  the  water  to  mois- 
ten my  parched  lips  ;  but  no  water  came,  —  no  soldiers 
returned ;  and  there  I  lay,  for  several  hours,  expecting 
every  moment  to  breathe  my  last.  I  made  no  effort  to 
move,  for  I  was  now  convinced  my  hour  was  come,  and 
that  it  was  the  will  of  Mahomet  that  I  should  perish  in 
this  miserable  manner,  and  lie  unburied  like  a  dog;  a 
death,  thought  I,  worthy  of  Murad  the  Unlucky. 

"  My  forebodings  were  not  this  tune  just ;  a  detach- 
ment of  English  soldiers  passed  near  the  place  where  I 
lay  :  my  groans  were  heard  by  them,  and  they  humanely 
came  to  my  assistance.  They  carried  me  with  them, 
dressed  my  wound,  and  treated  me  with  the  utmost  ten- 
derness. Christians  though  they  were,  I  must  acknowl- 
edge that  I  had  reason  to  love  them  better  than  any  of 
the  followers  of  Mahomet,  my  good  brother  only  excepted. 

"  Under  their  care  I  recovered ;  but  scarcely  had  I 
regained  my  strength  before  I  fell  into  new  disasters. 
It  was  hot  weather,  and  my  thirst  was  excessive.  I  went 
out  with  a  party,  in  hopes  of  finding  a  spring  of  water. 
The  English  soldiers  began  to  dig  for  a  well,  in  a  place 
pointed  out  to  them  by  one  of  their  men  of  science.  I 
was  not  inclined  to  such  hard  labor,  but  preferred  saun- 
tering on  in  search  of  a  spring.  I  saw  at  a  distance 
something  that  looked  like  a  pool  of  water ;  and  I  pointed 
it  out  to  my  companions.  Their  man  of  science  warned 
me  by  his  interpreter  not  to  trust  to  this  deceitful  appear- 
ance; for  that  such  were  common  in  this  country,  and 
that,  when  I  came  close  to  the  spot,  I  should  find  no 


MURAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  103 

•water  there.  He  added  that  it  was  at  a  greater  distance 
than  I  imagined ;  and  that  I  should,  in  all  probability, 
be  lost  in  the  desert,  if  I  attempted  to  follow  this  phantom. 

"  I  was  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  attend  to  his  advice  : 
I  set  out  in  pursuit  of  this  accursed  delusion,  which 
assuredly  was  the  work  of  evil  spirits,  who  clouded  my 
reason,  and  allured  me  into  their  dominion.  I  went  on, 
hour  after  hour,  in  expectation  continually  of  reaching 
the  object  of  my  wishes ;  but  it  fled  faster  than  I  pur- 
sued, and  I  discovered  at  last  that  the  Englishman,  who 
had  doubtless  gained  his  information  from  the  people  of 
the  country,  was  right ;  and  that  the  shining  appearance, 
which  I  had  taken  for  water,  was  a  mere  deception. 

"  I  was  now  exhausted  with  fatigue  :  I  looked  back  in 
vain  after  the  companions  I  had  left ;  I  could  see  neither 
men,  animals,  nor  any  trace  of  vegetation  in  the  sandy 
desert.  I  had  no  resource  but,  weary  as  I  was,  to  meas- 
ure back  my  footsteps,  which  were  imprinted  in  the  sand. 

"  I  slowly  and  sorrowfully  traced  them  as  my  guides 
in  this  unknown  land.  Instead  of  yielding  to  my  in- 
dolent inclinations,  I  ought,  however,  to  have  made  the 
best  of  my  way  back,  before  the  evening  breeze  sprung 
up.  I  felt  the  breeze  rising,  and,  unconscious  of  my 
danger,  I  rejoiced,  and  opened  my  bosom  to  meet  it ;  but 
what  was  my  dismay  when  I  saw  that  the  wind  swept 
before  it  all  trace  of  my  footsteps  in  the  sand.  I  knew 
not  which  way  to  proceed ;  I  was  struck  with  despair, 
tore  my  garments,  threw  off  my  turban,  and  cried  aloud ; 
but  neither  human  voice  nor  echo  answered  me.  The 
silence  was  dreadful.  I  had  tasted  no  food  for  many 
hours,  and  I  now  became  sick  and  faint.  I  recollected 


104  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

that  I  had  put  a  supply  of  opium  into  the  folds  of  my 
turban ;  but,  alas  !  when  I  took  my  turban  up,  I  found 
that  the  opium  had  fallen  out.  I  searched  for  it  in  vain 
on  the  sand,  where  I  had  thrown  the  turban. 

"  I  stretched  myself  out  upon  the  ground,  and  yielded 
without  further  struggle  to  my  evil  destiny.  What  I 
suffered  from  thirst,  hunger,  and  heat  cannot  be  de- 
scribed !  At  last  I  fell  into  a  sort  of  trance,  during 
which  images  of  various  kinds  seemed  to  flit  before  my 
eyes.  How  long  I  remained  in  this  state  I  know  not ; 
but  I  remember  that  I  was  brought  to  my  senses  by  a 
loud  shout,  which  came  from  persons  belonging  to  a  car- 
avan returning  from  Mecca.  This  was  a  shout  of  joy 
for  their  safe  arrival  at  a  certain  spring,  well  known  to 
them  in  this  part  of  the  desert. 

"  The  spring  was  not  a  hundred  yards  from  the  spot 
where  I  lay ;  yet,  such  had  been  the  fate  of  Murad  the 
Unlucky,  that  he  missed  the  reality,  whilst  he  had  been 
hours  in  pursuit  of  the  phantom.  Feeble  and  spiritless 
as  I  was,  I  sent  forth  as  loud  a  cry  as  I  could,  in  hopes 
of  obtaining  assistance;  and  I  endeavored  to  crawl  to 
the  place  from  which  the  voices  appeared  to  come.  The 
caravan  rested  for  a  considerable  time  whilst  the  slaves 
filled  the  skins  with  water,  and  whilst  the  camels  took  in 
their  supply.  I  worked  myself  on  towards  them ;  yet, 
notwithstanding  my  efforts,  I  was  persuaded  that,  accord- 
ing to  my  usual  ill  fortune,  I  should  never  be  able  to 
make  them  hear  my  voice.  I  saw  them  mount  their 
camels !  I  took  off  my  turban,  unrolled  it,  and  waved  it 
in  the  air.  My  signal  was  seen!  The  caravan  came 
towards  me! 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  105 

"  I  had  scarcely  strength  to  speak :  a  slave  gave  me 
some  water ;  and,  after  I  had  drunk,  I  explained  to  them 
who  I  was,  and  how  I  came  into  this  situation. 

"  Whilst  I  was  speaking,  one  of  the  travellers  observed 
the  purse  which  hung  to  my  girdle  :  it  was  the  same  the 
merchant,  for  whom  I  recovered  the  ring,  had  given  to 
me ;  I  had  carefully  preserved  it,  because  the  initials  of 
my  benefactor's  name,  and  a  passage  from  the  Koran, 
were  worked  upon  it.  When  he  gave  it  to  me,  he  said 
that  perhaps  we  should  meet  again  in  some  other  part 
of  the  world,  and  he  should  recognize  me  by  this  token. 
The  person  who  now  took  notice  of  the  purse  was  his 
brother ;  and  when  I  related  to  him  how  I  had  obtained 
it,  he  had  the  goodness  to  take  me  under  his  protection. 
He  was  a  merchant,  who  was  now  going  with  the  caravan 
to  Grand  Cairo  :  he  offered  to  take  me  with  him,  and  I 
willingly  accepted  the  proposal,  promising  to  serve  him 
as  faithfully  as  any  of  his  slaves.  The  caravan  pro- 
ceeded, and  I  was  carried  with  it. 

II. 

"  THE  merchant,  who  was  become  my  master,  treated 
me  with  great  kindness ;  but,  on  hearing  me  relate  the 
whole  series  of  my  unfortunate  adventures,  he  exacted 
a  promise  from  me,  that  I  would  do  nothing  without  first 
consulting  him.  '  Since  you  are  so  unlucky,  Murad,' 
said  he,  '  that  you  always  choose  for  the  worst  when  you 
choose  for  yourself,  you  should  trust  entirely  to  the 
judgment  of  a  wiser  or  a  more  fortunate  friend.' 

"I  fared  well  in  the  service  of  this  merchant,  who 
5* 


106  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

was  a  man  of  a  mild  disposition,  and  who  was  so  rich 
that  he  could  afford  to  be  generous  to  all  his  dependants. 
It  was  my  business  to  see  his  camels  loaded  and  un- 
loaded at  proper  places,  to  count  his  bales  of  merchan- 
dise, and  to  take  care  that  they  were  not  mixed  with 
those  of  his  companions.  This  I  carefully  did,  till  the 
day  we  arrived  at  Alexandria ;  when,  unluckily,  I  neg- 
lected to  count  the  bales,  taking  it  for  granted  that  they 
were  all  right,  as  I  had  found  them  so  the  preceding 
day.  However,  when  we  were  to  go  on  board  the  ves- 
sel that  was  to  take  us  to  Cairo,  I  perceived  that  three 
bales  of  cotton  were  missing. 

"  I  ran  to  inform  my  master,  who,  though  a  good  deal 
provoked  at  my  negligence,  did  not  reproach  me  as  I 
deserved.  The  public  crier  was  immediately  sent  round 
the  city,  to  offer  a  reward  for  the  recovery  of  the  mer- 
chandise ;  and  it  was  restored  by  one  of  the  merchants' 
slaves,  with  whom  we  had  travelled.  The  vessel  was 
now  under  sail ;  my  master  and  I  and  the  bales  of  cot- 
ton were  obliged  to  follow  in  a  boat ;  and  when  we  were 
taken  on  board,  the  captain  declared  he  was  so  loaded 
that  he  could  not  tell  where  to  stow  the  bales  of  cotton. 
After  much  difficulty,  he  consented  to  let  them  remain 
upon  deck:  and  I  promised  my  master  to  watch  them 
night  and  day. 

"  We  had  a  prosperous  voyage,  and  were  actually  in 
sight  of  shore,  which  the  captain  said  we  could  not  fail 
to  reach  early  the  next  morning.  I  stayed,  as  usual, 
this  night  upon  deck ;  and  solaced  myself  by  smoking 
my  pipe.  Ever  since  I  had  indulged  in  this  practice  at 
the  camp  at  El  Arish,  I  could  not  exist  without  opium 


MURAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  107 

and  tobacco.  I  suppose  that  my  reason  was  this  night 
a  little  clouded  with  the  dose  I  took ;  but,  towards  mid- 
night, I  was  sobered  by  terror.  I  started  up  from  the 
deck  on  which  I  had  stretched  myself ;  my  turban  was 
in  flames ;  the  bale  of  cotton  on  which  I  had  rested  was 
all  on  fire.  I  awakened  two  sailors,  who  were  fast 
asleep  on  deck.  The  consternation  became  general,  and 
the  confusion  increased  the  danger.  The  captain  and  my 
master  were  the  most  active,  and  suffered  the  most  in  ex- 
tinguishing the  flames  :  my  master  was  terribly  scorched. 

"  For  my  part,  I  was  not  suffered  to  do  anything ;  the 
captain  ordered  that  I  should  be  bound  to  the  mast ;  and, 
when  at  last  the  flames  were  extinguished,  the  passen- 
gers, with  one  accord,  besought  him  to  keep  me  bound 
hand  and  foot,  lest  I  should  be  the  cause  of  some  new 
disaster.  All  that  had  happened  was,  indeed,  occasioned 
by  my  ill  luck.  I  had  laid  my  pipe  down,  when  I  was 
falling  asleep,  upon  the  bale  of  cotton  that  was  beside 
me.  The  fire  from  my  pipe  fell  out,  and  set  the  cotton, 
in  flames.  Such  was  the  mixture  of  rage  and  terror  with 
which  I  had  inspired  the  whole  crew,  that  I  am  sure 
they  would  have  set  me  ashore  on  a  desert  island,  rather 
than  have  had  me  on  board  for  a  week  longer.  Even 
my  humane  master,  I  could  perceive,  was  secretly  im- 
patient to  get  rid  of  Murad  the  Unlucky,  and  his  evil 
fortune. 

"  You  may  believe  that  I  was  heartily  glad  when  we 
landed,  and  when  I  was  unbound.  My  master  put  a 
purse  containing  fifty  sequins  into  my  hand,  and  bade  me 
farewell.  'Use  this  money  prudently,  Murad,  if  you 
can,'  said  he,  '  and  perhaps  your  fortune  may  change.' 


108  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

Of  this  I  had  little  hopes,  but  determined  to  lay  out  my 
money  as  prudently  as  possible. 

"As  I  was  walking  through  the  streets  of  Grand 
Cairo,  considering  how  I  should  lay  out  my  fifty  sequins 
to  the  greatest  advantage,  I  was  stopped  by  one  who 
called  me  by  my  name,  and  asked  me  if  I  could  pretend 
to  have  forgotten  his  face.  I  looked  steadily  at  him,  and 
recollected  to  my  sorrow  that  he  was  the  Jew  Rachub, 
from  whom  I  had  borrowed  certain  sums  of  money  at 
the  camp  at  El  Arish.  What  brought  him  to  Grand 
Cairo,  except  it  was  my  evil  destiny,  I  cannot  tell.  He 
would  not  quit  me ;  he  would  take  no  excuses ;  he  said 
he  knew  that  I  had  deserted  twice,  once  from  the  Turk- 
ish and  once  from  the  English  army ;  that  I  was  not 
entitled  to  any  pay;  and  that  he  could  not  imagine  it 
possible  that  my  brother  Saladin  would  own  me,  or  pay 
my  debts. 

"  I  replied,  for  I  was  vexed  by  the  insolence  of  this 
Jewish  dog,  that  I  was  not,  as  he  imagined,  a  beggar ; 
that  I  had  the  means  of  paying  him  my  just  debt,  but 
that  I  hoped  he  would  not  extort  from  me  all  that  exor- 
bitant interest  which  none  but  a  Jew  could  exact.  He 
smiled,  and  answered  that,  if  a  Turk  loved  opium  better 
than  money,  this  was  no  fault  of  his ;  that  he  had  sup- 
plied me  with  what  I  loved  best  in  the  world ;  and  that 
I  ought  not  to  complain,  when  he  expected  I  should  re- 
turn the  favor. 

"  I  will  not  weary  you,  gentlemen,  with  all  the  argu- 
ments that  passed  between  me  and  Rachub.  At  last  we 
compromised  matters ;  he  would  take  nothing  less  than 
the  whole  debt :  but  he  let  me  have  at  a  very  cheap  rate 


MTJEAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  109 

a  chest  of  second-hand  clothes,  by  which  he  assured  me 
I  might  make  my  fortune.  He  brought  them  to  Grand 
Cairo,  he  said,  for  the  purpose  of  selling  them  to  slave- 
merchants,  who  at  this  time  of  the  year  were  in  want  of 
them  to  supply  their  slaves ;  but  he  was  in  haste  to  get 
home  to  his  wife  and  family,  at  Constantinople,  and 
therefore  he  was  willing  to  make  over  to  a  friend  the 
profits  of  this  speculation.  I  should  have  distrusted 
Rachub's  professions  of  friendship  and  especially  of  dis- 
interestedness ;  but  he  took  me  with  him  to  the  khan, 
where  his  goods  were,  and  unlocked  the  chest  of  clothes 
to  show  them  to  me.  They  were  of  the  richest  and  fin- 
est materials,  and  had  been  but  little  worn.  I  could  not 
doubt  the  evidence  of  my  senses ;  the  bargain  was  con- 
cluded, and  the  Jew  sent  porters  to  my  inn  with  the 
chest. 

"  The  next  day  I  repaired  to  the  public  market-place ; 
and,  when  my  business  was  known,  I  had  choice  of  cus- 
tomers before  night :  my  chest  was  empty,  —  and  my 
purse  was  full.  The  profit  I  made,  upon  the  sale  of 
these  clothes,  was  so  considerable,  that  I  could  not  help 
feeling  astonishment  at  Rachub's  having  brought  himself 
so  readily  to  relinquish  them. 

"  A  few  days  after  I  had  disposed  of  the  contents  of 
my  chest,  a  Damascene  merchant,  who  had  bought  two 
suits  of  apparel  from  me,  told  me,  with  a  very  melan- 
choly face,  that  both  the  female  slaves  who  had  put  on 
these  clothes  were  sick.  I  could  not  conceive  that  the 
clothes  were  the  cause  of  their  sickness  ;  but  soon  after- 
wards, as  I  was  crossing  the  market,  I  was  attacked  by 
at  least  a  dozen  merchants,  who  made  similar  complaints. 


110  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

They  insisted  upon  knowing  how  I  came  by  the  gar- 
ments, and  demanded  whether  I  had  worn  any  of  them 
myself.  This  day  I  had  for  the  first  time  indulged  my- 
self with  wearing  a  pair  of  yellow  slippers,  the  only  fin- 
ery I  had  reserved  for  myself  out  of  all  the  tempting 
goods.  Convinced  by  my  wearing  these  slippers  that  I 
could  have  had  no  insidious  designs,  since  I  shared  the 
danger,  whatever  it  might  be,  the  merchants  were  a  little 
pacified ;  but  what  was  my  terror  and  remorse  the  next 
day,  when  one  of  them  came  to  inform  me  that  plague- 
boils  had  broken  out  under  the  arms  of  all  the  slaves 
who  had  worn  this  pestilential  apparel !  On  looking 
carefully  into  the  chest,  we  found  the  word  Smyrna  writ- 
ten, and  half  effaced,  upon  the  lid.  Now,  the  plague 
had  for  some  time  raged  at  Smyrna ;  and,  as  the  mer- 
chants suspected,  these  clothes  had  certainly  belonged  to 
persons  who  had  died  of  that  distemper.  This  was  the 
reason  why  the  Jew  was  willing  to  sell  them  to  me  so 
cheap  ;  and  it  was  for  this  reason  that  he  would  not  stay 
at  Grand  Cairo  himself  to  reap  the  profits  of  his  specula- 
tion. Indeed,  if  I  had  paid  attention  to  it  at  the  proper 
time,  a  slight  circumstance  might  have  revealed  the  truth 
to  me.  Whilst  I  was  bargaining  with  the  Jew,  before 
he  opened  the  chest,  he  swallowed  a  large  dram  of 
brandy,  and  stuffed  his  nostrils  with  sponge  dipped  in 
vinegar :  this  he  told  me  he  did  to  prevent  his  perceiv- 
ing the  smell  of  musk,  which  always  threw  him  into  con- 
vulsions. 

"The  horror  I  felt,  when  I  discovered  that  I  had 
spread  the  infection  of  the  plague,  and  that  I  had  prob- 
ably caught  it  myself,  overpowered  my  senses;  a  cold 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  Ill 

dew  spread  over  all  my  limbs,  and  I  fell  upon  the  lid 
of  the  fatal  chest  in  a  swoon.  It  is  said  that  fear  dis- 
poses people  to  take  the  infection ;  however  this  may  be, 
I  sickened  that  evening,  and  soon  was  in  a  raging  fever. 
It  was  worse  for  me  whenever  the  delirium  left  me,  and 
I  could  reflect  upon  the  miseries  my  ill  fortune  had  oc- 
casioned. In  my  first  lucid  interval,  I  looked  round 
and  saw  that  I  had  been  removed  from  the  khan  to  a 
wretched  hut.  An  old  woman,  who  was  smoking  her 
pipe  in  the  farthest  corner  of  my  room,  informed  me 
that  I  had  been  sent  out  of  the  town  of  Grand  Cairo  by 
order  of  the  cadi,  to  whom  the  merchants  had  made  their 
complaint.  The  fatal  chest  was  burnt,  and  the  house  in 
which  I  had  lodged  razed  to  the  ground.  'And  if  it 
had  not  been  for  me,'  continued  the  old  woman,  '  you 
would  have  been  dead,  probably,  at  this  instant ;  but  I 
have  made  a  vow  to  our  great  prophet,  that  I  would 
never  neglect  an  opportunity  of  doing  a  good  action : 
therefore,  when  you  were  deserted  by  all  the  world, 
I  took  care  of  you.  Here,  too,  is  your  purse,  which  I 
saved  from  the  rabble ;  and,  what  is  more  difficult,  from 
the  officers  of  justice :  I  will  account  to  you  for  every 
para  that  I  have  expended;  and  will  moreover  tell 
you  the  reason  of  my  making  such  an  extraordinary 
vow.' 

"  As  I  believed  that  this  benevolent  old  woman  took 
great  pleasure  in  talking,  I  made  an  inclination  of  my 
head  to  thank  her  for  her  promised  history,  and  she  pro- 
ceeded ;  but  I  must  confess  I  did  not  listen  with  all  the 
attention  her  narrative  doubtless  deserved.  Even  curi- 
osity, the  strongest  passion  of  us  Turks,  was  dead  within 


112  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

me.  I  have  no  recollection  of  the  old  woman's  story. 
It  is  as  much  as  I  can  do  to  finish  my  own. 

"  The  weather  became  excessively  hot ;  it  was  affirmed, 
by  some  of  the  physicians,  that  this  heat  would  prove 
fatal  to  their  patients ;  but,  contrary  to  the  prognostics 
of  the  physicians,  it  stopped  the  progress  of  the  plague. 
I  recovered,  and  found  my  purse  much  lightened  by  my 
illness.  I  divided  the  remainder  of  my  money  with  my 
humane  nurse,  and  sent  her  out  into  the  city,  to  inquire 
how  matters  were  going  on. 

"She  brought  me  word  that  the  fury  of  the  plague 
had  much  abated ;  but  that  she  had  met  several  funerals, 
and  that  she  had  heard  many  of  the  merchants  cursing 
the  folly  of  Murad  the  Unlucky,  who,  as  they  said,  had 
brought  all  this  calamity  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Cairo. 
Even  fools,  they  say,  learn  my  experience.  I  took  care 
to  burn  the  bed  on  which  I  had  lain,  and  the  clothes  I 
had  worn:  I  concealed  my  real  name,  which  I  knew 
would  inspire  detestation,  and  gamed  admittance,  with  a 
crowd  of  other  poor  wretches,  into  a  lazaretto,  where  I 
performed  quarantine,  and  offered  up  prayers  daily  for 
the  sick. 

"  When  I  thought  it  was  impossible  I  could  spread 
the  infection,  I  took  my  passage  home.  I  was  eager  to 
get  away  from  Grand  Cairo,  where  I  knew  I  was  an 
object  of  execration.  I  had  a  strange  fancy  haunting  my 
mind ;  I  imagined  that  all  my  misfortunes,  since  I  left 
Constantinople,  had  arisen  from  my  neglect  of  the  talis- 
man upon  the  beautiful  china  vase.  I  dreamed  three 
times,  when  I  was  recovering  from  the  plague,  that  a 
genius  appeared  to  me,  and  said,  in  a  reproachful  tone, 


MURAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  113 

'Murad,  where  is  the  vase  that  was  intrusted  to  thy 
care  ? ' 

"  This  dream  operated  strongly  upon  my  imagination. 
As  soon  as  we  arrived  at  Constantinople,  which  we  did, 
to  my  great  surprise,  without  meeting  with  any  untoward 
accidents,  I  went  in  search  of  my  brother  Saladin,  to 
inquire  for  my  vase.  He  no  longer  lived  in  the  house 
in  which  I  left  him,  and  I  began  to  be  apprehensive  that 
he  was  dead;  but  a  porter,  hearing  my  inquiries,  ex- 
claimed, '  Who  is  there  in  Constantinople  that  is  igno- 
rant of  the  dwelling  of  Saladin  the  Lucky  ?  Come  with 
me,  and  I  will  show  it  to  you.' 

"The  mansion  to  which  he  conducted  me  looked  so 
magnificent,  that  I  was  almost  afraid  to  enter  lest  there 
should  be  some  mistake.  But,  whilst  I  was  hesitating, 
the  doors  opened,  and  I  heard  my  brother  Saladin's 
voice.  He  saw  me  almost  at  the  same  instant  that  I 
fixed  my  eyes  upon  him,  and  immediately  sprang  for- 
ward to  embrace  me.  He  was  the  same  good  brother  as 
ever,  and  I  rejoiced  in  his  prosperity  with  all  my  heart. 
'  Brother  Saladin,'  said  I,  '  can  you  now  doubt  that  some 
men  are  born  to  be  fortunate,  and  others  to  be  unfortu- 
nate ?  How  often  you  used  to  dispute  this  point  with 
me! ' 

" '  Let  us  not  dispute  it  now  in  the  public  street,' 
said  he,  smiling ;  '  but  come  in  and  refresh  yourself,  and 
we  will  consider  the  question  afterwards  at  leisure.' 

" '  No,  my  dear  brother,'  said  I,  drawing  back,  '  you 
are  too  good :  Murad  the  Unlucky  shall  not  enter  your 
house,  lest  he  should  draw  down  misfortunes  upon  you 
and  yours.  I  come  only  to  ask  for  my  vase.' 

H 


114  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"  '  It  is  safe,'  cried  he ;  '  come  in,  and  you  shall  see  it ; 
but  I  will  not  give  it  up  till  I  have  you  in  my  house.  I 
have  none  of  these  superstitious  fears:  pardon  me  the 
expression,  but  I  have  none  of  these  superstitious  fears.' 

"  I  yielded,  entered  his  house,  and  was  astonished  at 
all  I  saw !  My  brother  did  not  triumph  in  his  pros- 
perity; but,  on  the  contrary,  seemed  intent  only  upon 
making  me  forget  my  misfortunes :  he  listened  to  the 
account  of  them  with  kindness,  and  obliged  me  by  the 
recital  of  his  history ;  which  was,  I  must  acknowledge, 
far  less  wonderful  than  my  own.  He  seemed,  by  his 
own  account,  to  have  grown  rich  in  the  common  course 
of  things ;  or,  rather,  by  his  own  prudence.  I  allowed 
for  his  prejudices,  and,  unwilling  to  dispute  further  with 
him,  said,  '  You  must  remain  of  your  opinion,  brother ; 
and  I  of  mine :  you  are  Saladin  the  Lucky,  and  I  Murad 
the  Unlucky ;  and  so  we  shall  remain  to  the  end  of  our 
lives.' 

"  I  had  not  been  in  his  house  four  days  when  an  acci- 
dent happened,  which  showed  how  much  I  was  in  the 
right.  The  favorite  of  the  sultan,  to  whom  he  had  for- 
merly sold  his  china  vase,  though  her  charms  were  now 
somewhat  faded  by  time,  still  retained  her  power,  and 
her  taste  for  magnificence.  She  commissioned  my  brother 
to  bespeak  for  her,  at  Venice,  the  most  splendid  looking- 
glass  that  money  could  purchase.  The  mirror,  after 
many  delays  and  disappointments,  at  length  arrived  at 
my  brother's  house.  He  unpacked  it,  and  sent  to  let 
the  lady  know  it  was  in  perfect  safety.  It  was  late  in 
the  evening,  and  she  ordered  it  should  remain  where  it 
was  that  night;  and  that  it  should  be  brought  to  the 


MUEAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  115 

seraglio  the  next  morning.  It  stood  in  a  sort  of  ante- 
chamber to  the  room  in  which  I  slept ;  and  with  it  were 
left  some  packages,  containing  glass  chandeliers  for  an 
unfinished  saloon  in  my  brother's  house.  Saladin  charged 
all  his  domestics  to  be  vigilant  this  night,  because  he  had 
money  to  a  great  amount  by  him,  and  there  had  been 
frequent  robberies  in  our  neighborhood.  Hearing  these 
orders,  I  resolved  to  be  in  readiness  at  a  moment's  warn- 
ing. I  laid  my  scimitar  beside  me  upon  a  cushion ;  and 
left  my  door  half  open,  that  I  might  hear  the  slightest 
noise  in  the  antechamber  or  the  great  staircase.  About 
midnight  I  was  suddenly  awakened  by  a  noise  in  the 
antechamber.  I  started  up,  seized  my  scimitar,  and  the 
instant  I  got  to  the  door,  saw,  by  the  light  of  the  lamp 
which  was  burning  in  the  room,  a  man  standing  opposite 
-to  me,  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand.  I  rushed 
forward,  demanding  what  he  wanted,  and  received  no 
answer ;  but,  seeing  him  aim  at  me  with  his  scimitar,  I 
gave  him,  as  I  thought,  a  deadly  blow.  At  this  instant, 
I  heard  a  great  crash ;  and  the  fragments  of  the  looking- 
glass,  which  I  had  shivered,  fell  at  my  feet.  At  the 
fame  moment  something  black  brushed  by  my  shoulder : 
I  pursued  it,  stumbled  over  the  packages  of  glass,  and 
rolled  over  them  down  the  stairs. 

"  My  brother  came  out  of  his  room,  to  inquire  the 
cause  of  all  this  disturbance ;  and  when  he  saw  the  fine 
mirror  broken,  and  me  lying  amongst  the  glass  chande- 
liers at  the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  he  could  not  forbear 
exclaiming,  '  Well,  brother !  you  are  indeed  Murad  the 
Uulucky.' 

"When  the  first  emotion  was  over,  he  could  not, 


116  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

however,  forbear  laughing  at  my  situation.  With  a 
degree  of  goodness,  which  made  me  a  thousand  times 
more  sorry  for  the  accident,  he  came  down  stairs  to  help 
me  up,  gave  me  his  hand,  and  said,  'Forgive  me,  if  I 
was  angry  with  you  at  first.  I  am  sure  you  did  not 
mean  to  do  me  any  injury ;  but  tell  me  how  all  this  has 
happened.' 

"  Whilst  Saladin  was  speaking,  I  heard  the  same  kind 
of  noise  which  had  alarmed  me  in  the  antechamber ;  but, 
on  looking  back,  I  saw  only  a  black  pigeon,  which  flew 
swiftly  by  me,  unconscious  of  the  mischief  he  had  occa- 
sioned. This  pigeon  I  had  unluckily  brought  into  the 
house  the  preceding  day ;  and  had  been  feeding  and 
trying  to  tame  it  for  my  young  nephews.  I  little  thought 
it  would  be  the  cause  of  such  disasters.  My  brother, 
though  he  endeavored  to  conceal  his  anxiety  from  me, 
was  much  disturbed  at  the  idea  of  meeting  the  favorite's 
displeasure,  who  would  certainly  be  grievously  disap- 
pointed by  the  loss  of  her  splendid  looking-glass.  I  saw 
that  I  should  inevitably  be  his  ruin,  if  I  continued  in  his 
house ;  and  no  persuasions  could  prevail  upon  me  to 
prolong  my  stay.  My  generous  brother,  seeing  me 
determined  to  go,  said  to  me,  '  A  factor,  whom  I  have 
employed  for  some  years  to  sell  merchandise  for  me,  died 
a  few  days  ago.  Will  you  take  his  place?  I  am  rich 
enough  to  bear  any  little  mistakes  you  may  fall  into,  from 
ignorance  of  business ;  and  you  will  have  a  partner  who 
is  able  and  willing  to  assist  you.' 

"  I  was  touched  to  the  heart  by  this  kindness,  espe, 
cially  at  such  a  time  as  this.  He  sent  one  of  his  slaves 
with  me  to  the  shop  in  which  you  now  see  me,  gentle- 


MURAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  117 

men.  The  slave,  by  my  brother's  directions,  brought 
with  us  my  china  vase,  and  delivered  it  safely  to  me, 
with  this  message :  '  The  scarlet  dye  that  was  found  in 
this  vase,  and  in  its  fellow,  was  the  first  cause  of  Saladiii's 
making  the  fortune  he  now  enjoys  :  he  therefore  does  no 
more  than  justice,  in  sharing  that  fortune  with  his  brother 
Murad.' 

"  I  was  now  placed  in  as  advantageous  a  situation  as 
possible ;  but  my  mind  was  ill  at  ease,  when  I  reflected 
that  the  broken  mirror  might  be  my  brother's  ruin. 
The  lady  by  whom  it  had  been  bespoken  was,  I  well 
knew,  of  a  violent  temper;  and  this  disappointment 
was  sufficient  to  provoke  her  to  vengeance.  My  brother 
sent  me  word  this  morning,  however,  that,  though  her 
displeasure  was  excessive,  it  was  in  my  power  to  pre- 
vent any  ill  consequences  that  might  ensue.  '  In  my 
power  ! '  I  exclaimed ;  '  then,  indeed,  I  am  happy  !  Tell 
my  brother  there  is  nothing  I  will  not  do  to  show  him 
my  gratitude,  and  to  save  him  from  the  consequences  of 
my  folly.' 

"  The  slave  who  was  sent  by  my  brother  seemed  un- 
willing to  name  what  was  required  of  me,  saying  that  his 
master  was  afraid  I  should  not  like  to  grant  the  request. 
I  urged  him  to  speak  freely,  and  he  then  told  me  the 
favorite  declared  nothing  would  make  her  amends  for 
the  loss  of  the  mirror  but  the  fellow  vase  to  that  which 
she  had  bought  from  Saladin.  It  was  impossible  for  me 
to  hesitate ;  gratitude  for  my  brother's  generous  kind- 
ness overcame  my  superstitious  obstinacy ;  and  I  sent 
him  word  I  would  carry  the  vase  to  him  myself. 

"  I  took  it  down  this  evening  from  the  shelf  on  which 


118  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

it  stood  ;  it  was  covered  with  dust,  and  I  washed  it,  but 
unluckily,  in  endeavoring  to  clean  the  inside  from  the 
remains  of  the  scarlet  powder,  I  poured  hot  water  into 
it,  and  immediately  I  heard  a  simmering  noise,  and  my 
vase,  in  a  few  instants,  burst  asunder  with  a  loud  explo- 
sion. These  fragments,  alas !  are  all  that  remain.  The 
measure  of  my  misfortunes  is  now  completed  !  Can  you 
wonder,  gentlemen,  that  I  bewail  my  evil  destiny  ?  Am 
I  not  justly  called  Murad  the  Unlucky  ?  Here  end  all 
my  hopes  in  this  world !  Better  would  it  have  been  if 
I  had  died  long  ago  !  Better  that  I  had  never  been 
born!  Nothing  I  ever  have  done  or  attempted  has 
prospered.  Murad  the  Unlucky  is  my  name,  and  ill 
fate  has  marked  me  for  her  own." 

m. 

THE  lamentations  of  Murad  were  interrupted  by  the 
entrance  of  Saladin.  Having  waited  in  vain  for  some 
hours,  he  now  came  to  see  if  any  disaster  had  happened 
to  his  brother  Murad.  He  was  surprised  at  the  sight 
of  the  two  pretended  merchants,  and  could  not  refrain 
from  exclamations  on  beholding  the  broken  vase.  How- 
ever, with  his  usual  equanimity  and  good-nature,  he 
began  to  console  Murad ;  and,  taking  up  the  fragments, 
examined  them  carefully,  one  by  one  joined  them  to- 
gether again,  found  that  none  of  the  edges  of  the  china 
were  damaged,  and  declared  he  could  have  it  mended  so 
as  to  look  as  well  as  ever. 

Murad  recovered  his  spirits  upon  this.  "Brother," 
said  he,  "I  comfort  myself  for  being  Murad  the  Uii- 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  119 

lucky,  when  I  reflect  that  you  are  Saladin  the  Lucky. 
See,  gentlemen,"  continued  he,  turning  to  the  pretended 
merchants,  "scarcely  has  this  most  fortunate  of  men 
been  five  minutes  in  company  before  he  gives  a  happy 
turn  to  affairs.  His  presence  inspires  joy :  I  observe 
your  countenances,  which  had  been  saddened  by  my 
dismal  history,  have  brightened  up  since  he  has  made 
his  appearance.  Brother,  I  wish  you  would  make  these 
gentlemen  some  amends  for  the  time  they  have  wasted 
in  listening  to  my  catalogue  of  misfortunes,  by  relating 
your  history,  which,  I  am  sure,  they  will  find  rather 
more  exhilarating." 

Saladin  consented,  on  condition  that  the  strangers 
would  accompany  him  home,  and  partake  of  a  social 
banquet.  They  at  first  repeated  the  former  excuse  of 
-their  being  obliged  to  return  to  their  inn ;  but  at  length 
the  sultan's  curiosity  prevailed,  and  he  and  his  vizier 
went  home  with  Saladin  the  Lucky,  who,  after  supper, 
related  his  history  in  the  following  manner :  — 

"  My  being  called  Saladin  the  Lucky  first  inspired  me 
with  confidence  in  myself ;  though  I  own  that  I  cannot 
remember  any  extraordinary  instances  of  good  luck  in 
my  childhood.  An  old  nurse  of  my  mother's,  indeed, 
repeated  to  me,  twenty  times  a  day,  that  nothing  I  un- 
dertook could  fail  to  succeed,  because  I  was  Saladin  the 
Lucky.  I  became  presumptuous  and  rash ;  and  my 
nurse's  prognostics  might  have  effectually  prevented 
their  accomplishment,  had  I  not,  when  I  was  about 
fifteen,  been  roused  to  reflection  during  a  long  con- 
finement, which  was  the  consequence  of  my  youthful 
conceit  and  imprudence 


120  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

"  At  this  time  there  was  at  the  Porte  a  Frenchman, 
an  ingenious  engineer,  who  was  employed  and  favored 
by  the  sultan,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  many  of  my 
prejudiced  countrymen.  On  the  grand  seignior's  birth- 
day he  exhibited  some  extraordinarily  fine  fireworks ; 
and  I,  with  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  of  Constantino- 
ple, crowded  to  see  them.  I  happened  to  stand  near 
the  place  where  the  Frenchman  was  stationed  ;  the 
crowd  pressed  upon  him,  and  I  amongst  the  rest;  he 
begged  we  would,  for  our  own  sakes,  keep  at  a  greater 
distance,  and  warned  us  that  we  might  be  much  hurt  by 
the  combustibles  which  he  was  using.  I,  relying  upon 
my  good  fortune,  disregarded  all  these  cautions ;  and 
the  consequence  was,  that  as  I  touched  some  of  the 
materials  prepared  for  the  fireworks,  they  exploded, 
dashed  me  upon  the  ground  with  great  violence,  and  I 
was  terribly  burnt. 

"  This  accident,  gentlemen,  I  consider  as  one  of  the 
most  fortunate  circumstances  of  my  life ;  for  it  checked 
and  corrected  the  presumption  of  my  temper.  During 
the  time  I  was  confined  to  my  bed,  the  French  gentle- 
man came  frequently  to  see  me.  He  was  a  very  sensible 
man;  and  the  conversations  he  had  with  me  enlarged 
my  mind,  and  cured  me  of  many  foolish  prejudices, 
especially  of  that  which  I  had  been  taught  to  entertain, 
concerning  the  predominance  of  what  is  called  luck,  or 
fortune,  in  human  affairs.  '  Though  you  are  called  Saladin 
the  Lucky,'  said  he,  '  you  find  that  your  neglect  of  pru- 
dence has  nearly  brought  you  to  the  grave  even  in  the 
bloom  of  youth.  Take  my  advice,  and  henceforward  trust 
more  to  prudence  than  to  fortune.  Let  the  multitude, 


MURAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  121 

if  they  will,  call  you  Saladin  the  Lucky ;  but  call  your- 
self, and  make  yourself,  Saladin  the  Prudent.' 

"  These  words  left  an  indelible  impression  on  my  mind, 
and  gave  a  new  turn  to  my  thoughts  and  character.  My 
brother,  Murad,  has  doubtless  told  you  that  our  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  on  the  subject  of  predestination,  pro- 
duced between  us  frequent  arguments;  but  we  could 
never  convince  one  another,  and  we  each  have  acted, 
through  life,  in  consequence  of  our  different  beliefs. 
To  this  I  attribute  my  success  and  his  misfortunes. 

"The  first  rise  of  my  fortune,  as  you  have  probably 
heard  from  Murad,  was  owing  to  the  scarlet  dye,  which 
I  brought  to  perfection  with  infinite  difiiculty.  The 
powder,  it  is  true,  was  accidentally  found  by  me  in  our 
china  vases ;  but  there  it  might  have  remained  to  this 
instant,  useless,  if  I  had  not  taken  the  pains  to  make  it 
useful.  I  grant  that  we  can  only  partially  foresee  and 
command  events ;  yet  on  the  use  we  make  of  our  own 
powers,  I  think,  depends  our  destiny.  But,  gentlemen, 
you  would  rather  hear  my  adventures,  perhaps,  than  my 
reflections ;  and  I  am  truly  concerned,  for  your  sakes, 
that  I  have  no  wonderful  events  to  relate.  I  am  sorry 
I  cannot  tell  you  of  my  having  been  lost  in  a  sandy 
desert.  I  have  never  had  the  plague,  nor  even  been 
shipwrecked :  I  have  been  all  my  life  an  inhabitant  of 
Constantinople,  and  have  passed  my  time  in  a  very 
quiet  and  uniform  manner. 

"  The  money  I  received  from  the  sultan's  favorite  for 
my  china  vase,  as  my  brother  may  have  told  you,  enabled 
me  to  trade  on  a  more  extensive  scale.  I  went  on 
steadily  with  my  business ;  and  made  it  my  whole  study 

\OL.    XII.  6 


122  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

to  please  my  employers,  by  all  fair  and  honorable 
means.  This  industry  and  civility  succeeded  beyond  my 
expectations :  in  a  few  years,  I  was  rich  for  a  man  in 
my  way  of  business. 

"  I  will  not  proceed  to  trouble  you  with  the  journal 
of  a  petty  merchant's  life ;  I  pass  on  to  the  incident 
which  made  a  considerable  change  in  my  affairs. 

"  A  terrible  fire  broke  out  near  the  walls  of  the  grand 
seignior's  seraglio  :  as  you  are  strangers,  gentlemen,  you 
may  not  have  heard  of  this  event,  though  it  produced 
so  great  a  sensation  in  Constantinople.  The  vizier's  su- 
perb palace  was  utterly  consumed  ;  and  the  melted  lead 
poured  down  from  the  roof  of  the  mosque  of  St.  Sophia. 
Various  were  the  opinions  formed  by  my  neighbors  re- 
specting the  cause  of  the  conflagration.  Some  supposed 
it  to  be  a  punishment  for  the  sultan's  having  neglected, 
one  Friday,  to  appear  at  the  mosque  of  St.  Sophia ;  oth- 
ers considered  it  as  a  warning  sent  by  Mahomet,  to 
dissuade  the  Porte  from  persisting  in  a  war  in  which  we 
were  just  engaged.  The  generality,  however,  of  the 
coffee-house  politicians  contented  themselves  with  ob- 
serving that  it  was  the  will  of  Mahomet  that  the  palace 
should  be  consumed.  Satisfied  by  this  supposition,  they 
took  no  precaution  to  prevent  similar  accidents  in  their 
own  houses.  Never  were  fires  so  common  in  the  city  as 
at  this  period ;  scarcely  a  night  passed  without  our  being 
wakened  by  the  cry  of  fire. 

"  These  frequent  fires  were  rendered  still  more  dread- 
ful by  villains,  who  were  continually  on  the  watch  to 
increase  the  confusion  by  which  they  profited,  and  to 
pillage  the  houses  of  the  sufferers.  It  was  discovered 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  123 

that  these  incendiaries  frequently  skulked,  towards  even- 
ing, in  the  neighborhood  of  the  bezestein,  where  the 
richest  merchants  store  their  goods;  some  of  these 
wretches  were  detected  in  throwing  coundaks,  or  matches, 
into  the  windows ;  and  if  these  combustibles  remained  a 
sufficient  time,  they  could  not  fail  to  set  the  house  on 
fire. 

"  Notwithstanding  all  these  circumstances,  many  even 
of  those  who  had  property  to  preserve  continued  to  re- 
peat, '  It  is  the  will  of  Mahomet,'  and  consequently  to 
neglect  all  means  of  preservation.  I,  on  the  contrary, 
recollecting  the  lesson  I  had  learned  from  the  sensible 
foreigner,  neither  suffered  my  spirits  to  sink  with  super- 
stitious fears  of  ill  luck,  nor  did  I  trust  presumptuously 
to  my  good  fortune.  I  took  every  possible  means  to  se- 
,  cure  myself.  I  never  went  to  bed  without  having  seen 
that  all  the  lights  and  fires  in  the  house  were  extin- 
guished, and  that  I  had  a  supply  of  water  in  the  cistern. 
I  had  likewise  learned  from  my  Frenchman  that  wet 
mortar  was  the  most  effectual  thing  for  stopping  the 
progress  of  flames  :  I  therefore  had  a  quantity  of  mortar 
made  up  in  one  of  my  outhouses,  which  I  could  use  at 
a  moment's  warning.  These  precautions  were  all  useful 
to  me :  my  own  house,  indeed,  was  never  actually  on 
fire,  but  the  houses  of  my  next-door  neighbors  were  no 
less  than  five  times  in  flames,  in  the  course  of  one  win- 
ter. By  my  exertions,  or  rather  by  my  precautions,  they 
suffered  but  little  damage ;  and  all  my  neighbors  looked 
upon  me  as  their  deliverer  and  friend :  they  loaded  me 
with  presents,  and  offered  more,  indeed,  than  I  would 
accept.  All  repeated  that  I  was  Saladin  the  Lucky. 


124  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

This  compliment  I  disclaimed,  feeling  more  ambitious  of 
being  called  Saladin  the  Prudent.  It  is  thus  that  what 
we  call  modesty  is  often  only  a  more  refined  species  of 
pride.  But  to  proceed  with  my  story. 

"  One  night  I  had  been  later  than  usual  at  supper,  at 
a  friend's  house :  none  but  the  watch  were  in  the  streets, 
and  even  they,  I  believe,  were  asleep. 

"  As  I  passed  one  of  the  conduits,  which  convey  water 
to  the  city,  I  heard  a  trickling  noise ;  and,  upon  exami- 
nation, I  found  that  the  cock  of  the  water-spout  was 
half  turned,  so  that  the  water  was  running  out.  I 
turned  it  back  to  its  proper  place,  thought  it  had  been 
left  unturned  by  accident,  and  walked  on;  but  I  had 
not  proceeded  far  before  I  came  to  another  spout  and 
another,  which  were  in  the  same  condition.  I  was  con- 
vinced that  this  could  not  be  the  effect  merely  of  acci- 
dent, and  suspected  that  some  ill-intentioned  persons 
designed  to  let  out  and  waste  the  water  of  the  city, 
that  there  might  be  none  to  extinguish  any  fire  that 
should  break  out  in  the  course  of  the  night. 

"  I  stood  still  for  a  few  moments,  to  consider  how  it 
would  be  most  prudent  to  act.  It  would  be  impossible 
for  me  to  run  to  all  parts  of  the  city,  that  I  might  stop 
the  pipes  that  were  running  to  waste.  I  first  thought  of 
wakening  the  watch  and  the  firemen,  who  were  most  of 
them  slumbering  at  their  stations;  but  I  reflected  that 
they  were  perhaps  not  to  be  trusted,  and  that  they  were 
in  a  confederacy  with  the  incendiaries  ;  otherwise,  they 
would  certainly,  before  this  hour,  have  observed  and 
stopped  the  running  of  the  sewers  in  their  neighborhood. 
I  determined  to  waken  a  rich  merchant,  called  Damat 


MURAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  125 

Zade,  who  lived  near  me,  and  who  had  a  number  of 
slaves  whom  he  could  send  to  different  parts  of  the  city, 
to  prevent  mischief,  and  give  notice  to  the  inhabitants  of 
their  danger. 

"He  was  a  very  sensible,  active  man,  and  one  that 
could  easily  be  wakened :  he  was  not,  like  some  Turks, 
an  hour  in  recovering  their  lethargic  senses.  He  was 
quick  in  decision  and  action ;  and  his  slaves  resembled 
their  master.  He  despatched  a  messenger  immediately 
to  the  grand  vizier,  that  the  sultan's  safety  might  be  se- 
cured ;  and  sent  others  to  the  magistrates,  in  each  quar- 
ter of  Constantinople.  The  large  drums  in  the  janissary 
aga's  tower  beat  to  rouse  the  inhabitants ;  and  scarcely 
had  this  been  heard  to  beat  half  an  hour  before  the  fire 
broke  out  in  the  lower  apartments  of  Damat  Zade's 
-house,  owing  to  a  coundak,  which  had  been  left  behind 
one  of  the  doors. 

"The  wretches  who  had  prepared  the  mischief  came 
to  enjoy  it,  and  to  pillage ;  but  they  were  disappointed. 
Astonished  to  find  themselves  taken  into  custody,  they 
could  not  comprehend  how  their  designs  had  been  frus- 
trated. By  timely  exertions,  the  fire  in  my  friend's 
house  was  extinguished;  and  though  fires  broke  out, 
during  the  night,  in  many  parts  of  the  city,  but  little 
damage  was  sustained,  because  there  was  time  for  pre- 
cautions; and  by  the  stopping  of  the  spouts,  sufficient 
water  was  preserved.  People  were  awakened,  and  warned 
of  the  danger,  and  they  consequently  escaped  unhurt. 

"  The  next  day,  as  soon  as  I  made  my  appearance  at 
the  bezestein,  the  merchants  crowded  round,  called  me 
their  benefactor,  and  the  preserver  of  their  lives  and 


126  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

fortunes.  Damat  Zade,  the  merchant  whom  I  had 
awakened  the  preceding  night,  presented  to  me  a  heavy 
purse  of  gold,  and  put  upon  my  finger  a  diamond  ring 
of  considerable  value ;  each  of  the  merchants  followed 
his  example,  in  making  me  rich  presents:  the  magis- 
trates also  sent  me  tokens  of  their  approbation ;  and  the 
grand  vizier  sent  me  a  diamond  of  the  first  water,  with 
a  line  written  by  his  own  hand :  '  To  the  man  who  has 
saved  Constantinople.'  Excuse  me,  gentlemen,  for  the 
vanity  I  seem  to  show  in  mentioning  these  circumstan- 
ces. You  desired  to  hear  my  history,  and  I  cannot 
therefore  omit  the  principal  circumstance  of  my  life.  In 
the  course  of  four-and-twenty  hours,  I  found  myself 
raised,  by  the  munificent  gratitude  of  the  inhabitants  of 
this  city,  to  a  state  of  affluence  far  beyond  what  I  had 
ever  dreamed  of  attaining. 

"  I  now  took  a  house  suited  to  my  circumstances,  and 
bought  a  few  slaves.  As  I  was  carrying  my  slaves  home, 
I  was  met  by  a  Jew,  who  stopped  me,  saying,  in  his  lan- 
guage, '  My  lord,  I  see,  has  been  purchasing  slaves :  I 
could  clothe  them  cheaply.'  There  was  something  mys- 
terious in  the  manner  of  this  Jew,  and  I  did  not  like  his 
countenance ;  but  I  considered  that  I  ought  not  to  be 
governed  by  caprice  in  my  dealings,  and  that,  if  this 
man  could  really  clothe  my  slaves  more  cheaply  than 
another,  I  ought  not  to  neglect  his  offer  merely  because 
I  took  a  dislike  to  the  cut  of  his  beard,  the  turn  of  his 
eye,  or  the  tone  of  his  voice.  I  therefore  bade  the  Jew 
follow  me  home,  saying  that  I  would  consider  of  his 
proposal. 

"  When  we  came  to  talk  over  the  matter,  I  was  SUF 


MTJEAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  127 

prised  to  find  him  so  reasonable  in  his  demands.  On  one 
point,  indeed,  he  appeared  unwilling  to  comply.  I  re- 
quired not  only  to  see  the  clothes  I  was  offered,  but  also 
to  know  how  they  came  into  'his  possession.  On  this 
subject  he  equivocated ;  I  therefore  suspected  there  must 
be  something  wrong.  I  reflected  what  it  could  be,  and 
judged  that  the  goods  had  been  stolen,  or  that  they  had 
been  the  apparel  of  persons  who  had  died  of  some  con- 
tagious distemper.  The  Jew  showed  me  a  chest,  from 
which  he  said  I  might  choose  whatever  suited  me  best. 
I  observed,  that,  as  he  was  going  to  unlock  the  chest,  he 
stuffed  his  nose  with  some  aromatic  herbs.  He  told  me 
that  he  did  so  to  prevent  his  smelling  the  musk  with 
which  the  chest  was  perfumed:  musk,  he  said,  had  an 
extraordinary  effect  upon  his  nerves.  I  begged  to  have 
some  of  the  herbs  which  he  used  himself;  declaring  that 
musk  was  likewise  offensive  to  me. 

"  The  Jew,  either  struck  by  his  own  conscience,  or  ob- 
serving my  suspicions,  turned  as  pale  as  death.  He  pre- 
tended he  had  not  the  right  key,  and  could  not  unlock 
the  chest ;  said  he  must  go  in  search  of  it,  and  that  he 
would  call  on  me  again. 

"  After  he  had  left  me,  I  examined  some  writing  upon 
the  lid  of  the  chest,  that  had  been  nearly  effaced.  I  made 
out  the  word  Smyrna,  and  this  was  sufficient  to  confirm 
all  my  suspicions.  The  Jew  returned  no  more  :  he  sent 
some  porters  to  carry  away  the  chest,  and  I  heard  noth- 
ing of  him  for  some  time,  till  one  day,  when  I  was  at  the 
house  of  Damat  Zade,  I  saw  a  glimpse  of  the  Jew  pass- 
ing hastily  through  one  of  the  courts,  as  if  he  wished  to 
avoid  me.  '  My  friend,'  said  I  to  Damat  Zade,  '  do  not 


128  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

attribute  my  question  to  impertinent  curiosity,  or  to  a 
desire  to  intermeddle  with  your  affairs,  if  I  venture  to 
ask  the  nature  of  your  business  with  the  Jew,  who  has 
just  now  crossed  your  court.' 

" '  He  has  engaged  to  supply  me  with  clothing  for  my 
slaves/  replied  my  friend,  '  cheaper  than  I  can  purchase 
it  elsewhere.  I  have  a  design  to  surprise  my  daughter, 
Fatima,  on  her  birthday,  with  an  entertainment  in  the 
pavilion  in  the  garden;  and  all  her  female  slaves  shall 
appear  in  new  dresses  on  the  occasion.' 

"  I  interrupted  my  friend,  to  tell  him  what  I  suspected 
relative  to  this  Jew  and  his  chest  of  clothes.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  the  infection  of  the  plague  can  be  communicated 
by  clothes,  not  only  after  months  but  after  years  have 
elapsed.  The  merchant  resolved  to  have  nothing  more 
to  do  with  this  wretch,  who  could  thus  hazard  the  lives 
of  thousands  of  his  fellow-creatures  for  a  few  pieces  of 
gold:  we  sent  notice  of  the  circumstance  to  the  cadi, 
but  the  cadi  was  slow  in  his  operations ;  and,  before  he 
could  take  the  Jew  into  custody,  the  cunning  fellow  had 
effected  his  escape.  When  his  house  was  searched,  he 
and  his  chest  had  disappeared :  we  discovered  that  he 
sailed  for  Egypt,  and  rejoiced  that  we  had  driven  him 
from  Constantinople. 

"  My  friend,  Damat  Zade,  expressed  the  warmest 
gratitude  to  me.  '  You  formerly  saved  my  fortune  :  you 
have  now  saved  my  life ;  and  a  life  yet  dearer  than  my 
own,  that  of  my  daughter  Fatima.' 

"  At  the  sound  of  that  name  I  could  not,  I  believe, 
avoid  showing  some  emotion.  I  had  accidentally  seen 
this  lady,  and  I  had  been  captivated  by  her  beauty,  and 


MUEAD   THE    UNLUCKY.  129 

by  the  sweetness  of  her  countenance ;  but  as  I  knew  she 
was  destined  to  be  the  wife  of  another,  I  suppressed  my 
feeling,  and  determined  to  banish  the  recollection  of  the 
fair  Fatima  forever  from  my  imagination.  Her  father, 
however,  at  this  instant,  threw  into  my  way  a  temptation 
which  it  required  all  my  fortitude  to  resist.  '  Saladin,' 
continued  he,  'it  is  but  just  that  you,  who  have  saved 
our  lives,  should  share  our  festivity.  Come  here  on  the 
birthday  of  my  Fatima :  I  will  place  you  in  a  balcony, 
which  overlooks  the  garden,  and  you  shall  see  the  whole 
spectacle.  We  shall  have  a  feast  of  tulips,  in  imitation 
of  that  which,  as  you  know,  is  held  in  the  grand  seign- 
ior's gardens.  I  assure  you,  the  sight  will  be  worth 
seeing ;  and  besides,  you  will  have  a  chance  of  beholding 
my  Fatima,  for  a  moment,  without  her  veil.' 

"  '  That,'  interrupted  I,  '  is  the  thing  I  most  wish  to 
avoid.  I  dare  not  indulge  myself  in  a  pleasure  which 
might  cost  me  the  happiness  of  my  life.  I  will  conceal 
nothing  from  you,  who  treat  me  with  so  much  confi- 
dence. I  have  already  beheld  the  charming  countenance 
of  your  Fatima,  but  I  know  that  she  is  destined  to  be 
the  wife  of  a  happier  man.' 

"  Damat  Zade  seemed  much  pleased  by  the  frankness 
with  which  I  explained  myself;  but  he  would  not  give 
up  the  idea  of  my  sitting  with  him,  in  the  balcony,  on 
the  day  of  the  feast  of  tulips,  and  I,  on  my  part,  could 
not  consent  to  expose  myself  to  another  view  of  the 
charming  Fatima.  My  friend  used  every  argument,  or 
rather  every  sort  of  persuasion,  he  could  imagine  to 
prevail  upon  me :  he  then  tried  to  laugh  me  out  of  my 
resolution;  and,  when  all  failed,  he  said,  in  a  voice  of 
6*  I 


130  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

anger,  '  Go,  then,  Saladin ;  I  am  sure  you  are  deceiving 
me :  you  have  a  passion  for  some  other  woman,  and  you 
would  conceal  it  from  me,  and  persuade  me  you  refuse 
the  favor  I  offer  you  from  prudence,  when,  in  fact,  it  is 
from  indifference  and  contempt.  Why  could  you  not 
speak  the  truth  of  your  heart  to  me  with  that  frankness 
with  which  one  friend  should  treat  another? ' 

"Astonished  at  this  unexpected  charge,  and  at  the 
anger  which  flashed  from  the  eyes  of  Damat  Zade,  who 
till  this  moment  had  always  appeared  to  me  a  man  of  a 
mild  and  reasonable  temper,  I  was  for  an  instant  tempted 
to  fly  into  a  passion  and  leave  him :  but  friends,  once 
lost,  are  not  easily  regained.  This  consideration  had 
power  sufficient  to  make  me  command  my  temper.  '  My 
friend,'  replied  I, '  we  will  talk  over  tliis  affair  to-morrow : 
you  are  now  angry,  and  cannot  do  me  justice ;  but  to- 
morrow you  will  be  cool :  you  will  then  be  convinced 
that  I  have  not  deceived  you ;  and  that  I  have  no  design 
but  to  secure  my  own  happiness  by  the  most  prudent 
means  in  my  power,  by  avoiding  the  sight  of  the  danger- 
ous Fatima.  I  have  no  passion  for  any  other  woman.' 

" '  Then,'  said  my  friend,  embracing  me,  and  quitting 
the  tone  of  anger  which  he  had  assumed  only  to  try 
my  resolution  to  the  utmost,  — '  then,  Saladin,  Fatima  is 
yours.' 

"  I  scarcely  dared  to  believe  my  senses !  I  could  not 
express  my  joy !  '  Yes,  my  friend,'  continued  the  mer- 
chant, '  I  have  tried  your  prudence  to  the  utmost ;  it  has 
been  victorious,  and  I  resign  my  Fatima  to  you,  certain 
that  you  will  make  her  happy.  It  is  true,  I  had  a  greater 
alliance  in  view  for  her:  the  pacha  of  Maksoud  has 


MUEAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  131 

demanded  her  from  me ;  but  I  have  found,  upon  private 
inquiry,  he  is  addicted  to  the  intemperate  use  of  opium : 
and  my  daughter  shall  never  be  the  wife  of  one  who  is  a 
violent  madman  one  half  the  day,  and  a  melancholy  idiot 
during  the  remainder.  I  have  nothing  to  apprehend 
from  the  pacha's  resentment,  because  I  have  powerful 
friends  with  the  grand  vizier  who  will  oblige  him  to  lis- 
ten to  reason,  and  to  submit  quietly  to  a  disappointment 
he  so  justly  merits.  And  now,  Saladin,  have  you  any 
objection  to  seeing  the  feast  of  tulips  ? ' 

"  I  replied  only  by  falling  at  the  merchant's  feet,  and 
embracing  his  knees.  The  feast  of  tulips  came,  and  on 
that  day  I  was  married  to  the  charming  Fatima !  The 
charming  Eatima  I  continue  still  to  think  her,  though 
she  has  now  been  my  wife  some  years.  She  is  the  joy 
and  pride  of  my  heart ;  and,  from  our  mutual  affection,  I 
have  experienced  more  felicity  than  from  all  the  other 
circumstances  of  my  life,  which  are  called  so  fortunate. 
Her  father  gave  me  the  house  in  which  I  now  live,  and 
joined  his  possessions  to  ours ;  so  that  I  have  more 
wealth  even  than  I  desire.  My  riches,  however,  give 
me  continually  the  means  of  relieving  the  wants  of  oth- 
ers; and  therefore  I  cannot  affect  to  despise  them.  I 
must  persuade  my  brother  Murad  to  share  them  with  me, 
and  to  forget  his  misfortunes  :  I  shall  then  think  myself 
completely  happy.  As  to  the  sultana's  looking-glass, 
and  your  broken  vase,  my  dear  brother,"  continued  Sa- 
ladin, "  we  must  think  of  some  means  —  " 

"  Think  no  more  of  the  sultana's  looking-glass,  or  of 
the  broken  vase,"  exclaimed  the  sultan,  throwing  aside 
his  merchant's  habit,  and  showing  beneath  it  his  own 


132  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

imperial  vest.  "  Saladin,  I  rejoice  to  have  heard,  from 
your  own  lips,  the  history  of  your  life.  I  acknowledge, 
vizier,  I  have  been  in  the  wrong,  in  our  argument,"  con- 
tinued the  sultan,  turning  to  his  vizier.  "  I  acknowledge 
that  the  histories  of  Saladin  the  Lucky  and  Murad  the 
Unlucky  favor  your  opinion,  that  prudence  has  more 
influence  than  chance  in  human  affairs.  The  success  and 
happiness  of  Saladin  seem  to  me  to  have  arisen  from  his 
prudence:  by  that  prudence,  Constantinople  has  been 
saved  from  flames,  and  from  the  plague.  Had  Murad 
possessed  his  brother's  discretion,  he  would  not  have 
been  on  the  point  of  losing  his  head,  for  selling  rolls 
which  he  did  not  bake :  he  would  not  have  been  kicked 
by  a  mule,  or  bastinadoed  for  finding  a  ring :  he  would 
Hot  have  been  robbed  by  one  party  of  soldiers,  or  shot 
by  another :  he  would  not  have  been  lost  in  a  desert,  or 
cheated  by  a  Jew ;  he  would  not  have  set  a  ship  on  fire ; 
nor  would  he  have  caught  the  plague,  and  spread  it 
through  Grand  Cairo :  he  would  not  have  run  my  sul- 
tana's looking-glass  through  the  body,  instead  of  a  rob- 
ber :  he  would  not  have  believed  that  the  fate  of  his  life 
depended  on  certain  verses  on  a  china  vase  :  nor  would 
he,  at  last,  have  broken  this  precious  talisman,  by  wash- 
ing it  with  hot  water.  Henceforward,  let  Murad  the 
Unlucky  be  named  Murad  the  Imprudent:  let  Saladin 
preserve  the  surname  he  merits,  and  be  henceforth  called 
Saladin  the  Prudent." 

So  spake  the  sultan,  who,  unlike  the  generality  of 
monarchs,  could  bear  to  find  himself  in  the  wrong ;  and 
could  discover  his  vizier  to  be  in  the  right,  without  cut- 
ting off  his  head.  History  further  informs  us  that  the 


MUEAD   THE   UNLUCKY.  133 

sultan  offered  to  make  Saladin  a  pacha,  and  to  commit 
to  him  the  government  of  a  province ;  but  Saladin  the 
Prudent  declined  this  honor,  saying  he  had  no  ambition, 
was  perfectly  happy  in  his  present  situation,  and  that, 
when  this  was  the  case,  it  would  be  folly  to  change, 
because  no  one  can  be  more  than  happy.  What  further 
adventures  befell  Murad  the  Imprudent  are  not  recorded ; 
it  is  known  only  that  he  became  a  daily  visitor  to  the 
Teriaky ;  and  that  he  died  a  martyr  to  the  immoderate 
use  of  opium. 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC. 


BY  EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE. 


MY   LIFE   TO  ITS   CRISIS. 

EW-YORKERS  of  to-day  see  so  many  proces- 
sions, and  live  through  so  many  sensations,  and 
hurrah  for  so  many  heroes  in  every  year,  that  it 
is  only  the  oldest  of  fogies  who  tells  you  of  the  triumphant 
procession  of  steamboats  which,  in  the  year  1824,  wel- 
comed General  Lafayette  on  his  arrival  from  his  tour 
through  the  country  he  had  so  nobly  served.  But,  if  the 
reader  wishes  to  lengthen  out  this  story,  he  may  button 
the  next  silver-gray  friend  he  meets,  and  ask  him  to  tell 
of  the  broken  English  and  broken  French  of  the  Mar- 
quis, of  Levasseur,  and  the  rest  of  them  ;  of  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  people  and  the  readiness  of  the  visitors,  and 
he  will  please  bear  in  mind  that  of  all  that  am  I. 

For  it  so  happened  that  on  the  morning  when,  for 
want  of  better  lions  to  show,  the  mayor  and  governor 
and  the  rest  of  them  took  the  Marquis  and  his  secretary, 
and  the  rest  of  them,  to  see  the  orphan  asylum  in  Deer- 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    135 

ing  Street,  —  as  they  passed  into  the  first  ward,  after 
having  had  "  a  little  refreshment "  in  the  managers'  room, 
Sally  Eaton,  the  head  nurse,  dropped  the  first  courtesy 
to  them,  and  Sally  Eaton,  as  it  happened,  held  me  scream- 
ing in  her  arms.  I  had  been  sent  to  the  asylum  that 
morning  with  a  paper  pinned  to  my  bib,  which  said  my 
name  was  Felix  Carter. 

"Eet  ees  verra  fine,"  said  the  Marquis,  smiling  blandly. 

"  Bavissant ! "  said  Levasseur,  and  he  dropped  a  five- 
franc  piece  into  Sally  Eaton's  hand.  And  so  the  proces- 
sion of  exhibiting  managers  talking  bad  French,  and  of 
exhibited  Frenchmen  talking  bad  English,  passed  on ;  all 
but  good  old  Elkanah  Ogden,  —  God  bless  him  !  —  who 
happened  to  have  come  there  with  the  governor's  party, 
and  who  loitered  a  minute  to  talk  with  Sally  Eaton  about 
me. 

Years  afterwards  she  told  me  how  the  old  man  kissed 
me,  how  his  eyes  watered  when  he  asked  my  story,  how 
she  told  again  of  the  moment  when  I  was  heard  screaming 
on  the  doorstep,  and  how  she  offered  to  go  and  bring  the 
paper  which  had  been  pinned  to  my  bib.  But  the  old 
man  said  it  was  no  matter,  —  "  only  we  would  have  called 
him  Marquis,"  said  he,  "  if  his  name  was  not  provided 
for  him.  We  must  not  leave  him  here,"  he  said ;  "  he 
shall  grow  up  a  farmer's  lad,  and  not  a  little  cockney." 
And  so,  instead  of  going  the  grand  round  of  infirma- 
ries, kitchens,  bakeries,  and  dormitories  with  the  rest, 
the  good  old  soul  went  back  into  the  managers'  room, 
and  wrote  at  the  moment  a  letter  to  John  Myers,  who 
took  care  of  his  wild  land  in  St.  Lawrence  County  for 
him,  to  ask  him  if  Mrs.  Myers  would  not  bring  up  an 


136  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

orphan  baby  by  hand  for  him;  and  if,  both  together, 
they  would  not  train  this  baby  till  he  said  "  Stop  "  ;  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  allowed  them,  in  the  yearly  account, 
a  hundred  dollars  each  year  for  th*  charge. 

Anybody  who  knows  how  far  a  hundred  dollars  goes 
in  the  backwoods,  in  St.  Lawrence  County,  will  know  that 
any  settler  would  be  glad  to  take  a  ward  so  recommended. 
Anybody  who  knew  Betsy  Myers  as  well  as  old  Elkanah 
Ogden  did,  would  know  she  would  have  taken  any  orphan 
brought  to  her  door,  even  if  he  were  not  recommended 
at  all. 

So  it  happened,  thanks  to  Lafayette  and  the  city  coun- 
cil !  that  I  had  not  been  a  "  Child  of  the  Public  "  a  day, 
before,  in  its  great,  clumsy,  liberal  way,  it  had  provided 
for  me.  I  owed  my  healthy,  happy  home  of  the  next 
fourteen  years  in  the  wilderness  to  those  marvellous  hab- 
its, which  I  should  else  call  absurd,  with  which  we  lionize 
strangers.  Because  our  hospitals  and  poorhouses  are  the 
largest  buildings  we  have,  we  entertain  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  Jenny  Lind  alike,  by  showing  them  crazy 
people  and  paupers.  Easy  enough  to  laugh  at  is  the 
display ;  but  if,  dear  Public,  it  happen  that  by  such  a 
habit  you  ventilate  your  Bridewell  or  your  Bedlam,  is 
not  the  ventilation,  perhaps,  a  compensation  for  the  ab- 
surdity ?  I  do  not  know  if  Lafayette  was  any  the  better 
for  his  seeing  the  Deering  Street  Asylum ;  but  I  do  know 
I  was. 

This  is  IKO  history  of  my  life.  It  is  only  an  illustra- 
tion of  one  of  its  principles.  I  have  no  anecdotes  of 
wilderness  life  to  tell,  and  no  sketch  of  the  lovely  rugged 
traits  of  Jo\m  and  Betsy  Myers,  —  my  real  father  and 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    137 

mother.  I  have  no  quest  for  the  pretended  parents,  who 
threw  me  away  in  my  babyhood,  to  record.  They  closed 
accounts  with  me  when  they  left  me  on  the  asylum  steps, 
and  I  with  them.  I  grew  up  with  such  schooling  as  the 
public  gave,  —  ten  weeks  in  winter  always,  and  ten  in 
summer,  till  I  was  big  enough  to  work  on  the  farm,  — 
better  periods  of  schools,  I  hold,  than  on  the  modern 
systems.  Mr.  Ogden  I  never  saw.  Regularly  he  allowed 
for  me  the  hundred  a  year  till  I  was  nine  years  old,  and 
then  suddenly  he  died,  as  the  reader  perhaps  knows. 
But  John  Myers  kept  me  as  his  son,  none  the  less.  I 
knew  no  change  until,  when  I  was  fourteen,  he  thought 
it  time  for  me  to  see  the  world,  and  sent  me  to  what,  in 
those  days,  was  called  a  "  Manual-Labor  School." 

There  was  a  theory  coming  up  in  those  days,  wholly 
.  unfounded  hi  physiology,  that  if  a  man  worked  five  hours 
with  his  hands,  he  could  study  better  in  the  next  five.  It  is 
all  nonsense.  Exhaustion  is  exhaustion ;  and  if  you  ex- 
haust a  vessel  by  one  stopcock,  nothing  is  gained  or  saved 
by  closing  that  and  opening  another.  The  old  up-country 
theory  is  the  true  one.  Study  ten  weeks  and  chop  wood 
fifteen;  study  ten  more  and  harvest  fifteen.  But  the 
"  Manual-Labor  School "  offered  itself  for  really  no  pay, 
only  John  Myers  and  I  carried  over,  I  remember,  a  dozen 
barrels  of  potatoes  when  I  went  there  with  my  books. 
The  school  was  kept  at  Roscius,  and  if  I  would  work  in 
the  carpenter's  shop  and  on  the  school  farm  five  hours, 
why  they  would  feed  me  and  teach  me  all  they  knew  in 
what  I  had  of  the  day  beside. 

"  Felix,"  said  John,  as  he  left  me,  "  I  do  not  suppose 
this  is  the  best  school  in  the  world,  unless  you  make  it 


138  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

so.  But  I  do  suppose  you  can  make  it  so.  If  you  and 
I  went  whining  about,  looking  for  the  best  school  in  the 
world,  and  for  somebody  to  pay  your  way  through  it,  I 
should  die,  and  you  would  lose  your  voice  with  whining, 
and  we  should  not  find  one  after  all.  This  is  what  the 
public  happens  to  provide  for  you  and  me.  We  won't 
look  a  gift-horse  in  the  mouth.  Get  on  his  back,  Felix ; 
groom  him  well  as  you  can  when  you  stop,  feed  him  when 
you  can,  and  at  all  events  water  him  well  and  take  care 
of  him  well.  My  last  advice  to  you,  Felix,  is  to  take 
what  is  offered  you,  and  never  complain  because  nobody 
offers  more." 

Those  words  are  to  be  cut  on  my  seal-ring,  if  I  ever 
have  one,  and  if  Dr.  Anthon  or  Professor  Webster  will 
put  them  into  short  enough  Latin  for  me.  That  is  the 
motto  of  the  "  Children  of  the  Public." 

John  Myers  died  before  that  term  was  out.  And  my 
more  than  mother,  Betsy,  went  back  to  her  friends  in 
Maine.  After  the  funeral  I  never  saw  them  more.  How 
I  lived  from  that  moment  to  what  Fausta  and  I  call  the 
Crisis  is  nobody's  concern.  I  worked  in  the  shop  at  the 
school,  or  on  the  farm.  Afterwards  I  taught  school  in 
neighboring  districts.  I  never  bought  a  ticket  in  a  lot- 
tery or  a  raffle.  But  whenever  there  was  a  chance  to  do 
an  honest  stroke  of  work,  I  did  it.  I  have  walked  fif- 
teen miles  at  night  to  carry  an  election  return  to  the 
"  Tribune's  "  agent  at  Gouverneur.  I  have  turned  out  in 
the  snow  to  break  open  the  road  when  the  supervisor 
could  not  find  another  man  in  the  township. 

When  Sartain  started  his  magazine,  I  wrote  an  essay 
in  competition  for  his  premiums,  and  the  essay  earned 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.     139 

its  hundred  dollars.  When  the  managers  of  the  "  Or- 
phan Home,"  in  Baltimore,  offered  their  prizes  for  papers 
on  bad  boys,  I  wrote  for  one  of  them,  and  that  helped 
me  on  four  hard  months.  There  was  no  luck  in  those 
things.  I  needed  the  money,  and  I  put  my  hook  into 
the  pork-barrel,  —  that  is,  I  trusted  the  Public.  I 
never  had  but  one  stroke  of  luck  in  my  life.  I  wanted 
a  new  pair  of  boots  badly.  I  was  going  to  walk  to 
Albany,  to  work  in  the  State  library  on  the  history  of 
the  Six  Nations,  which  had  an  interest  for  me.  I  did 
not  have  a  dollar.  Just  then  there  passed  Congress  the 
bill  dividing  the  surplus  revenue.  The  State  of  New 
York  received  two  or  three  millions,  and  divided  it  among 
the  counties.  The  county  of  St.  Lawrence  divided  it 
among  the  townships,  and  the  township  of  Roscius  di- 
vided it  among  the  voters.  Two  dollars  and  sixty  cents 
of  Uncle  Sam's  money  came  to  me,  and  with  that  money 
on  my  feet  I  walked  to  Albany.  That  I  call  luck  !  How 
many  fools  had  to  assent  in  an  absurdity  before  I  could 
study  the  history  of  the  Six  Nations ! 

But  one  instance  told  in  detail  is  better  than  a  thou- 
sand told  in  general,  for  the  illustration  of  a  principle. 
So  I  will  detain  you  no  longer  from  the  history  of  what 
Fausta  and  I  call  The  Crisis. 

II. 

THE   CRISIS. 

I  WAS  at  work  as  a  veneerer  in  a  piano-forte  factory  at 
Attica,  when  some  tariff  or  other  was  passed  or  repealed ; 
there  came  a  great  financial  explosion,  and  our  boss, 


140  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

among  the  rest,  failed.  He  owed  us  all  six  months' 
wages,  and  we  were  all  very  poor  and  very  blue.  Jona- 
than Whittemore  —  a  real  good  fellow,  who  used  to  cover 
the  hammers  with  leather  —  came  to  me  the  day  the 
shop  was  closed,  and  told  me  he  was  going  to  take  the 
chance  to  go  to  Europe.  He  was  going  to  the  Musical 
Conservatory  at  Leipsic,  if  he  could.  He  would  work 
his  passage  out  as  a  stoker.  He  would  wash  himself  for 
three  or  four  days  at  Bremen,  and  then  get  work,  if  he 
could,  with  Voightlander  or  Von  Hammer  till  he  could 
enter  the  Conservatory.  By  way  of  preparation  for  this 
he  wanted  me  to  sell  him  my  Adler's  German  Dictionary. 

"  I  've  nothing  to  give  you  for  it,  Felix,  but  this  fool- 
ish thing,  —  it  is  one  of  Burrham's  tickets,  —  which  I 
bought  in  a  frolic  the  night  of  our  sleigh-ride.  I  '11 
transfer  it  to  you." 

I  told  Jonathan  he  might  have  the  dictionary  and 
welcome.  He  was  doing  a  sensible  thing,  and  he  would 
use  it  twenty  times  as  much  as  I  should.  As  for  the 
ticket,  he  had  better  keep  it.  I  did  not  want  it.  But  I 
saw  he  would  feel  better  if  I  took  it,  —  so  he  indorsed  it 
to  me. 

Now  the  reader  must  know  that  this  Burrham  was  a 
man  who  had  got  hold  of  one  corner  of  the  idea  of  what  the 
Public  could  do  for  its  children.  He  had  found  out  that 
there  were  a  thousand  people  who  would  be  glad  to  make 
the  tour  of  the  mountains  and  the  lakes  every  summer  if 
they  could  do  it  for  half  price.  He  found  out  that  the 
railroad  companies  were  glad  enough  to  put  the  price 
down  if  they  could  be  sure  of  the  thousand  people.  He 
mediated  between  the  two,  and  so  "  cheap  excursions  " 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    141 

came  into  being.  They  are  one  of  the  gifts  the  Public 
gives  its  children.  Rising  from  step  to  step,  Burrham 
had,  just  before  the  great  financial  crisis,  conceived  the 
idea  of  a  great  cheap  combination,  in  which  everybody 
was  to  receive  a  magazine  for  a  year  and  a  cyclopaedia, 
both  at  half  price ;  and  not  only  so,  but  the  money  that 
was  gained  in  the  combination  was  to  be  given  by  lot  to 
two  ticket-holders,  one  a  man  and  one  a  woman,  for  their 
dowry  in  marriage.  I  dare  say  the  reader  remembers 
the  prospectus.  It  savors  too  much  of  the  modern 
"Gift  Enterprise"  to  be  reprinted  in  full;  but  it  had 
this  honest  element,  that  everybody  got  more  than  he 
could  get  for  his  money  in  retail.  I  have  my  magazine, 
the  old  "  Boston  Miscellany,"  to  this  day,  and  I  just  now 
looked  out  Levasseur's  name  in  my  cyclopaedia ;  and,  as 
-you  will  see,  I  have  reason  to  know  that  all  the  other 
subscribers  got  theirs. 

One  of  the  tickets  for  these  books,  for  which  Whitte- 
more  had  given  five  good  dollars,  was  what  he  gave  to 
me  for  my  dictionary.  And  so  we  parted.  I  loitered  at 
Attica,  hoping  for  a  place  where  I  could  put  in  my  oar. 
But  my  hand  was  out  at  teaching,  and  in  a  time  when 
all  the  world's  veneers  of  different  kinds  were  ripping  off, 
nobody  wanted  me  to  put  on  more  of  my  kind,  —  so  that 
my  cash  ran  low.  I  would  not  go  in  debt,  —  that  is  a 
thing  I  never  did.  More  honest,  I  say,  to  go  to  the 
poorhouse,  and  make  the  Public  care  for  its  child  there, 
than  to  borrow  what  you  cannot  pay.  But  I  did  not 
come  quite  to  that,  as  you  shall  see. 

I  was  counting  up  my  money  one  night,  —  and  it  was 
easily  done,  —  when  I  observed  that  the  date  on  this 


142  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

Burrkam  order  was  the  15th  of  October,  and  it  occurred 
to  me  that  it  was  riot  quite  a  fortnight  before  those  books 
were  to  be  delivered.  They  were  to  be  delivered  at 
Castle  Garden,  at  New  York;  and  the  thought  struck 
me  that  I  might  go  to  New  York,  try  my  chance  there 
for  work,  and  at  least  see  the  city,  which  I  had  never 
seen,  and  get  my  cyclopaedia  and  magazine.  It  was  the 
least  oifer  the  Public  ever  made  to  me ;  but  just  then  the 
Public  was  in  a  collapse,  and  the  least  was  better  than 
nothing.  The  plan  of  so  long  a  journey  was  Quixotic 
enough,  and  I  hesitated  about  it  a  good  deal.  Finally  I 
came  to  this  resolve :  I  would  start  in  the  morning  to 
walk  to  the  lock-station  at  Brockport  on  the  canal.  If  a 
boat  passed  that  night  where  they  would  give  me  my 
fare  for  any  work  I  could  do  for  them,  I  would  go  to 
Albany.  If  not,  I  would  walk  back  to  Lockport  the 
next  day,  and  try  my  fortune  there.  This  gave  me,  for 
my  first  day's  enterprise,  a  foot  journey  of  about  twenty- 
five  miles.  It  was  out  of  the  question,  with  my  finances, 
for  me  to  think  of  compassing  the  train. 

Every  point  of  life  is  a  pivot  on  which  turns  the  whole 
action  of  our  after-lives ;  and  so,  indeed,  of  the  after- 
lives of  the  whole  world.  But  we  are  so  purblind  that 
•we  only  see  this  of  certain  special  enterprises  and  en- 
deavors, which  we  therefore  call  critical.  I  am  sure  I 
see  it  of  that  twenty-five  miles  of  fresh  autumnal  walking. 
I  was  in  tip-top  spirits.  I  found  the  air  all  oxygen,  and 
everything  "  all  right."  I  did  not  loiter,  and  I  did  not 
hurry.  I  swung  along  with  the  feeling  that  every  nerve 
and  muscle  drew,  as  in  the  trades  a  sailor  feels  of  every 
rope  and  sail.  And  so  I  was  not  tired,  not  thirsty,  till 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    143 

the  brook  appeared  where  I  was  to  drink ;  nor  hungry 
till  twelve  o'clock  came,  when  I  was  to  dine.  I  called 
myself,  as  I  walked,  "The  Child  of  Good  Fortune,"  be- 
cause the  sun  was  on  my  right  quarter,  as  the  sun  should 
be  when  you  walk,  because  the  rain  of  yesterday  had  laid 
the  dust  for  me,  and  the  frost  of  yesterday  had  painted 
the  hills  for  me,  and  the  northwest  wind  cooled  the  air 
for  me.  I  came  to  Wilkie's  Cross-Roads  just  in  time  to 
meet  the  Claremont  baker  and  buy  my  dinner  loaf  of 
him.  And  when  my  walk  was  nearly  done,  I  came  out 
on  the  low  bridge  at  Sewell's,  which  is  a  drawbridge, 
just  before  they  raised  it  for  a  passing  boat,  instead  of 
the  moment  after.  Because  I  was  all  right  I  felt  myself 
and  called  myself  "The  Child  of  Good  Fortune."  Dear 
reader,  in  a  world  made  by  a  loving  Father,  we  are 
all  of  us  children  of  good  fortune,  if  we  only  have  wit 
enough  to  find  it  out,  as  we  stroll  along. 

The  last  stroke  of  good  fortune  which  that  day  had  for 
me  was  the  solution  of  my  question  whether  or  no  I 
would  go  to  Babylon.  I  was  to  go  if  any  good-natured 
boatman  would  take  me.  This  is  a  question,  Mr.  Mil- 
lionnaire,  more  doubtful  to  those  who  have  not  drawn 
their  dividends  than  to  those  who  have.  As  I  came 
down  the  village  street  at  Brockport,  I  could  see  the 
horses  of  a  boat  bound  eastward,  led  along  from  level  to 
level  at  the  last  lock ;  and,  in  spite  of  my  determination 
not  to  hurry,  I  put  myself  on  the  long,  loping  trot  which 
the  St.  Regis  Indians  taught  me,  that  I  might  overhaul 
this  boat  before  she  got  under  way  at  her  new  speed.  I 
came  out  on  the  upper  gate  of  the  last  lock  just  as  she 
passed  out  from  the  lower  gate.  The  horses  were  just 


144  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

put  on,  and  a  reckless  boy  gave  them  their  first  blow 
after  two  hours  of  rest  and  corn.  As  the  heavy  boat 
started  off  under  the  new  motion,  I  saw,  and  her  skipper 
saw  at  the  same  instant,  that  a  long  new  tow-rope  of  his, 
which  had  lain  coiled  on  deck,  was  suddenly  flying  out 
to  its  full  length.  The  outer  end  of  it  had  been  carried 
upon  the  lock-side  by  some  chance  or  blunder,  and  there 
some  idle  loafer  had  thrown  the  looped  bight  of  it  over  a 
hawser-post.  The  loafers  on  the  lock  saw,  as  I  did,  that 
the  rope  was  running  out,  and  at  the  call  of  the  skipper 
one  of  them  condescended  to  throw  the  loop  overboard, 
but  he  did  it  so  carelessly  that  the  lazy  rope  rolled  over 
into  the  lock,  and  the  loop  caught  on  one  of  the  valve- 
irons  of  the  upper  gate.  The  whole  was  the  business  of 
an  instant,  of  course.  But  the  poor  skipper  saw,  what 
we  did  not,  that  the  coil  of  the  rope  on  deck  was  foul, 
and  so  entangled  round  his  long  tiller,  that  ten  seconds 
would  do  one  of  three  things,  —  they  would  snap  his 
new  rope  in  two,  which  was  a  trifle,  or  they  would 
wrench  his  tiller-head  off  the  rudder,  which  would  cost 
him  an  hour  to  mend,  or  they  would  upset  those  two 
horses,  at  this  instant  on  a  trot,  and  put  into  the  canal 
the  rowdy  youngster  who  had  started  them.  It  was  this 
complex  certainty  which  gave  fire  to  the  double  cries 
which  he  addressed  aft  to  us  on  the  lock,  and  forward  to 
the  magnet  boy,  whose  indifferent  intelligence  at  that 
moment  drew  him  along. 

I  was  stepping  upon  the  gate-head  to  walk  across  it. 
It  took  but  an  instant,  not  nearly  all  the  ten  seconds,  to 
swing  down  by  my  arms  into  the  lock,  keeping  myself 
hanging  by  my  hands,  to  catch  with  my  right  foot  the 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    145 

bight  of  the  rope  and  lift  it  off  the  treacherous  iron,  to 
kick  the  whole  into  the  water,  and  then  to  scramble  up 
the  wet  lock-side  again.  I  got  a  little  wet,  but  that  was 
nothing.  I  ran  down  the  tow-path,  beckoned  to  the 
skipper,  who  sheered  his  boat  up  to  the  shore,  and  I 
jumped  on  board. 

At  that  moment,  reader,  Fausta  was  sitting  in  a  yel- 
low chair  on  the  deck  of  that  musty  old  boat,  crocheting 
from  a  pattern  in  "  Godey's  Lady's  Book.  I  remember 
it  as  I  remember  my  breakfast  of  this  morning.  Not  that 
I  fell  in  love  with  her,  nor  did  I  fall  in  love  with  my 
breakfast ;  but  I  knew  she  was  there.  And  that  was 
the  first  time  I  ever  saw  her.  It  is  many  years  since, 
and  I  have  seen  her  every  day  from  that  evening  to  this 
evening.  But  I  had  then  no  business  with  her.  My 
affair  was  with  him  whom  I  have  called  the  skipper,  by 
way  of  adapting  this  fresh-water  narrative  to  ears  accus- 
tomed to  Marry  at  and  Tom  Cringle.  I  told  him  that 
I  had  to  go  to  New  York ;  that  I  had  not  time  to 
walk,  and  had  not  money  to  pay;  that  I  should  like 
to  work  my  passage  to  Troy,  if  there  were  any  way  in 
which  I  could;  and  to  ask  him  this  I  had  come  on 
board. 

"Waal,"  said  the  skipper,  "'t ain't  much  that  is  to 
be  done,  and  Zekiel  and  I  calc'late  to  do  most  of  that ; 
and  there 's  that  blamed  boy  beside  —  " 

This  adjective  "blamed"  is  the  virtuous  oath  by 
which  simple  people,  who  are  improving  their  habits, 
cure  themselves  of  a  stronger  epithet,  as  men  take  to 
flag-root  who  are  abandoning  tobacco. 

"  He  ain't  good  for  nothin',  as  you  see,"  continued 

VOL.  XII.  7  J 


146  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

the  skipper  meditatively,  "  and  you  air,  anybody  can  see 
that,"  he  added.  "  Ef  you  've  mind  to  come  to  Albany, 
you  can  have  your  vittles,  poor  enough  they  are  too ; 
and  ef  you  are  willing  to  ride  sometimes,  you  can  ride. 
I  guess  where  there's  room  for  three  in  the  bunks 
there  's  room  for  four.  'T  ain't  everybody  would  have 
cast  off  that  blamed  hawser-rope  as  neat  as  you  did." 

From  which  last  remark  I  inferred,  what  I  learned  as 
a  certainty  as  we  travelled  farther,  that  but  for  the 
timely  assistance  I  had  rendered  him  I  should  have  plead 
for  my  passage  in  vain. 

This  was  my  introduction  to  Fausta.  That  is  to  say, 
she  heard  the  whole  of  the  conversation.  The  formal 
introduction,  which  is  omitted  in  no  circle  of  American 
life  to  which  I  have  ever  been  admitted,  took  place  at 
tea  half  an  hour  after,  when  Mrs.  Grills,  who  always 
voyaged  with  her  husband,  brought  in  the  flapjacks  from 
the  kitchen.  "  Miss  Jones,"  said  Grills,  as  I  came  into 
the  meal,  leaving  Zekiel  at  the  tiller,  — "  Miss  Jones, 
this  is  a  young  man  who  is  going  to  Albany.  I  don't 
rightly  know  how  to  call  your  name,  sir."  I  said  my 
name  was  Carter.  Then  he  said,  "  Mr.  Carter,  this  is 
Miss  Jones.  Mrs.  Grills,  Mr.  Carter.  Mr.  Carter,  Mrs. 
Grills.  She  is  my  wife."  And  so  our  partie  carree  was 
established  for  the  voyage. 

In  these  days  there  are  few  people  who  know  that  a 
journey  on  a  canal  is  the  pleasantest  journey  in  the 
•world.  A  canal  has  to  go  through  fine  scenery.  It  can- 
not exist  unless  it  follow  through  the  valley  of  a  stream. 
The  movement  is  so  easy  that,  with  your  eyes  shut,  you 
do  not  know  you  move.  The  route  is  so  direct,  that 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.     147 

when  you  are  once  shielded  from  the  sun,  you  are  safe 
for  hours.  You  draw,  you  read,  you  write,  or  you  sew, 
crochet,  or  knit.  You  play  on  your  flute  or  your  guitar, 
without  one  hint  of  inconvenience.  At  a  "  low  bridge  " 
you  duck  your  head  lest  you  lose  your  hat,  —  and  that 
reminder  teaches  you  that  you  are  human.  You  are  glad 
to  know  this,  and  you  laugh  at  the  memento.  For  the 
rest  of  the  time  you  journey,  if  you  are  "  all  right " 
within,  in  Elysium. 

I  rode  one  of  those  horses  perhaps  two  or  three  hours 
a  day.  At  locks  I  made  myself  generally  useful.  At 
night  I  walked  the  deck  till  one  o'clock,  with  my  pipe  or 
without  it,  to  keep  guard  against  the  lock-thieves.  The 
skipper  asked  me  sometimes,  after  he  found  I  could  "  ci- 
pher," to  disentangle  some  of  the  knots  in  his  bills  of 
lading  for  him.  But  all  this  made  but  a  little  inroad  in 
those  lovely  autumn  days,  and  for  the  eight  days  that  we 
glided  along,  —  there  is  one  blessed  level  which  is  sev- 
enty miles  long,  —  I  spent  most  of  my  time  with  Fausta. 
We  walked  together  on  the  tow-path  to  get  our  appetites 
for  dinner  and  for  supper.  At  sunrise  I  always  made  a 
cruise  inland,  and  collected  the  gentians  and  black  alder- 
berries  and  colored  leaves,  with  which  she  dressed  Mrs. 
Grill's  table.  She  took  an  interest  in  my  wretched 
sketch-book ;  and  though  she  did  not  and  does  not  draw 
well,  she  did  show  me  how  to  spread  an  even  tint,  which 
I  never  knew  before.  I  was  working  up  my  French. 
She  knew  about  as  much  and  as  little  as  I  did,  and  we 
read  Mad  Reybaud's  Clementine  together,  guessing  at 
the  hard  words,  because  we  had  no  dictionary. 

Dear  old  Grill  offered  to  talk  French  at  table,  and  we 


148  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

tried  it  for  a  few  days.  But  it  proved  he  picked  up  his 
pronunciation  at  St.  Catherine's,  among  the  boatmen 
there,  and  he  would  say  shwo  for  "  horses,"  where  the 
book  said  chevaux.  Our  talk,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
not  Parisian,  —  but  it  was  not  Catherinian,  —  and  we 
subsided  into  English  again. 

So  sped  along  these  blessed  eight  days.  I  told  Fausta 
thus  much  of  my  story,  that  I  was  going  to  seek  my  for- 
tune in  New  York.  She,  of  course,  knew  nothing  of  me 
but  what  she  saw,  and  she  told  me  nothing  of  her  story. 

But  I  was  very  sorry  when  we  came  into  the  basin  at 
Troy,  for  I  knew  then  that  in  all  reason  I  must  take  the 
steamboat  down.  And  I  was  very  glad  —  I  have  sel- 
dom in  my  life  been  so  glad  —  when  I  found  that  she 
also  was  going  to  New  York  immediately.  She  accepted, 
very  pleasantly,  my  offer  to  carry  her  trunk  to  the 
Isaac  Newton  for  her,  and  to  act  as  her  escort  to  the 
city.  Tor  me,  my  trunk, 

"  in  danger  tried," 
Swung  in  my  hand,  —  "  nor  left  my  side." 

My  earthly  possessions  were  few  anywhere.  I  had 
left  at  Attica  most  of  what  they  were.  Through  the 
voyage  I  had  been  man  enough  to  heep  on  a  working- 
gear  fit  for  a  workman's  duty.  And  old  Grills  had  not 
yet  grace  enough  to  keep  his  boat  still  on  Sunday.  How 
one  remembers  little  things !  I  can  remember  each 
touch  of  the  toilet,  as,  in  that  corner  of  a  dark  cuddy 
where  I  had  shared  "  Zekiel's  "  bunk  with  him,  I  dressed 
myself  with  one  of  my  two  white  shirts,  and  with  the 
Change  of  raiment  which  had  been  tight  squeezed  in  my 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    149 

portmanteau.  The  old  overcoat  was  the  best  part  of  it, 
as  in  a  finite  world  it  often  is.  I  sold  my  felt  hat  to 
Zekiel,  and  appeared  with  a  light  travelling-cap.  I  do 
not  know  how  Fausta  liked  my  metamorphosis.  I  only 
know  that,  like  butterflies,  for  a  day  or  two  after  they 
go  through  theirs,  I  felt  decidedly  cold. 

As  Carter,  the  canal  man,  I  had  carried  Fausta's 
trunk  on  board.  As  Mr.  Carter,  I  gave  her  my  arm, 
led  her  to  the  gangway  of  the  Newton,  took  her  passage 
and  mine,  and  afterwards  walked  and  sat  through  the 
splendid  moonlight  of  the  first  four  hours  down  the  river. 

Miss  Joues  determined  that  evening  to  breakfast  on 
the  boat.  Be  it  observed  that  I  did  not  then  know  her 
by  any  other  name.  She  was  to  go  to  an  aunt's  house, 
and  she  knew  that  if  she  left  the  boat  on  its  early  arri- 
val in  New  York,  she  would  disturb  that  lady  by  a 
premature  ringing  at  her  bell.  I  had  no  reason  for 
haste,  as  the  reader  knows.  The  distribution  of  the  cy- 
clopaedias was  not  to  take  place  till  the  next  day,  and 
that  absurd  trifle  was  the  only  distinct  excuse  I  had  to 
myself  for  being  in  New  York  at  all.  I  asked  Miss 
Jones,  therefore,  if  I  might  not  be  her  escort  still  to  her 
aunt's  house.  I  had  said  it  would  be  hard  to  break  off 
our  pleasant  journey  before  I  had  seen  where  she  lived, 
and  I  thought  she  seemed  relieved  to  know  that  she 
should  not  be  wholly  a  stranger  on  her  arrival.  It  was 
clear  enough  that  her  aunt  would  send  no  one  to  meet 
her. 

These  preliminaries  adjusted,  we  parted  to  our  respec- 
tive cabins.  And  when,  the  next  morning,  at  that  un- 
earthly hour  demanded  by  Philadelphia  trains  and  other 


150  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

exigencies,  the  Newton  made  her  dock,  I  rejoiced  that 
breakfast  was  not  till  seven  o'clock,  that  I  had  two 
hours  more  of  the  berth,  which  was  luxury  compared 
to  Zekiel's  bunk,  —  I  turned  upon  my  other  side  and 
slept  on. 

Sorry  enough  for  that  morning  nap  was  I  for  the  next 
thirty-six  hours.  Tor  when  I  went  on  deck,  and  sent 
in  the  stewardess  to  tell  Miss  Jones  that  I  was  waiting 
for  her,  and  then  took  from  her  the  check  for  her  trunk, 
I  woke  to  the  misery  of  finding  that,  in  that  treacherous 
two  hours,  some  pirate  from  the  pier  had  stepped  on 
board,  had  seized  the  waiting  trunk,  left  almost  alone, 
while  the  baggage-master's  back  was  turned,  and  that,  to 
a  certainty,  it  was  lost.  I  did  not  return  to  Fausta  with 
this  story  till  the  breakfast-bell  had  long  passed  and  the 
breakfast  was  very  cold.  I  did  not  then  tell  it  to  her 
till  I  had  seen  her  eat  her  breakfast  with  an  appetite 
much  better  than  mine.  I  had  already  offered  up  stairs 
the  largest  reward  to  anybody  who  would  bring  it  back 
which  my  scanty  purse  would  pay.  I  had  spoken  to  the 
clerk,  who  had  sent  for  a  policeman.  I  could  do  nothing 
more,  and  I  did  not  choose  to  ruin  her  chop  and  coffee 
by  ill-timed  news.  The  officer  came  before  breakfast  was 
over,  and  called  me  from  table. 

On  the  whole,  his  business-like  way  encouraged  me. 
He  had  some  clews  which  I  had  not  thought  possible. 
It  was  not  unlikely  that  they  should  pounce  on  the  trunk 
before  it  was  broken  open.  I  gave  him  a  written  de- 
scription of  its  marks ;  and  when  he  civilly  asked  if  "  my 
lady  "  would  give  some  description  of  any  books  or  other 
articles  within,  I  readily  promised  that  I  would  call  with 


THE  CHILDREN  OP  THE  PUBLIC.    151 

such  a  description  at  the  police  station.  Somewhat  en- 
couraged, I  returned  to  Miss  Jones,  and,  when  I  led  her 
from  the  breakfast-table,  told  her  of  her  misfortune.  I 
took  all  shame  to  myself  for  my  own  carelessness,  to 
which  I  attributed  the  loss.  But  I  told  her  all  that  the 
officer  had  said  to  me,  and  that  I  hoped  to  bring  her  the 
trunk  at  her  aunt's  before  the  day  was  over. 

Fausta  took  my  news,  however,  with  a  start  which 
frightened  me.  All  her  money,  but  a  shilling  or  two, 
was  in  the  trunk.  To  place  money  in  trunks  is  a  weak- 
ness of  the  female  mind  which  I  have  nowhere  seen 
accounted  for.  Worse  than  this,  though,  —  as  appeared 
after  a  moment's  examination  of  her  travelling-sa^, —  her 
portfolio  in  the  trunk  contained  the  letter  of  the  aunt 
whom  she  came  to  visit,  giving  her  her  address  in  the 
city.  To  this  address  she  had  no  other  clew  but  that 
her  aunt  was  Mrs.  Mary  Mason,  had  married  a  few  years 
before  a  merchant  named  Mason,  whom  Miss  Jones  had 
never  seen,  and  of  whose  name  and  business  this  was  all 
she  knew.  They  lived  in  a  numbered  street,  but  whether 
it  was  Fourth  Street,  or  Fifty -fourth,  or  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-fourth,  or  whether  it  was  something  be- 
tween, the  poor  child  had  no  idea.  She  had  put  up  the 
letter  carefully,  but  had  never  thought  of  the  importance 
of  the  address.  Besides  this  aunt,  she  knew  no  human 
being  in  New  York. 

"  Child  of  the  Public,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  what  do  you 
do  now  P  "  I  had  appealed  to  my  great  patron  in  sending 
for  the  officer,  and  on  the  whole  I  felt  that  my  sovereign 
had  been  gracious  to  me,  if  not  yet  hopeful  But  now  I 
must  rub  my  lamp  again,  and  ask  the  genie  where  the 


152  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

unknown  Mason  lived.  The  genie  of  course  suggested 
the  Directory,  and  I  ran  for  it  to  the  clerk's  office.  But 
as  we  were  toiling  down  the  pages  of  "Masons,"  and 
had  written  off  thirteen  or  fourteen  who  lived  in  num- 
bered streets,  Fausta  started,  looked  back  at  the  preface 
and  its  date,  flung  down  her  pencil  in  the  only  abandon- 
ment of  dismay  in  which  I  ever  saw  her,  and  cried  "  First 
of  May  !  They  were  abroad  until  May.  They  have  been 
abroad  since  the  day  they  were  married ! "  So  that 
genie  had  to  put  his  glories  into  his  pocket,  and  carry  his 
Directory  back  to  the  office  again. 

The  natural  thing  to  propose  was,  that  I  should  find 
for  Miss  Jones  a  respectable  boarding-house,  and  that 
she  should  remain  there  until  her  trunk  was  found,  or 
till  she  could  write  to  friends  who  had  this  fatal  address, 
and  receive  an  answer.  But  here  she  hesitated.  She 
hardly  liked  to  explain  why,  —  did  not  explain  wholly. 
But  she  did  not  say  that  she  had  no  friends  who  knew 
this  address.  She  had  but  .few  relations  in  the  world, 
and  her  aunt  had  communicated  with  her  alone  since  she 
came  from  Europe.  As  for  the  boarding-house,  "  I  had 
rather  look  for  work,"  she  said  bravely.  "  I  have  never 
promised  to  pay  money  when  I  did  not  know  how  to  ob- 
tain it ;  and  that "  —  and  here  she  took  out  fifty  or  sixty 
cents  from  her  purse  —  "  and  that  is  all  now.  In  re- 
spectable boarding-houses,  when  people  come  without  lug- 
gage, they  are  apt  to  ask  for  an  advance.  Or,  at  least," 
she  added,  with  some  pride,  "  I  am  apt  to  offer  it." 

I  hastened  to  ask  her  to  take  all  my  little  store ;  but  I 
had  to  own  that  I  had  not  two  dollars.  I  was  sure, 
however,  that  my  overcoat  and  the  dress-suit  I  wore 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    153 

would  avail  me  something,  if  I  thrust  them  boldly  up 
some  spout.  I  was  sure  that  I  should  be  at  work  within, 
a  day  or  two.  At  all  events,  I  was  certain  of  the  cyclo- 
paedia the  next  day.  That  should  go  to  old  Gowan's, 
—  in  Pulton  Street  it  was  then,  —  "  the  moral  centre  of 
the  intellectual  world,"  in  the  hour  I  got  it.  And  at 
this  moment,  for  the  first  time,  the  thought  crossed  me, 
"If  mine  could  only  be  the  name  drawn,  so  that  that 
foolish  $5,000  should  fall  to  me.  In  that  case  I  felt 
that  Fausta  might  live  in  "  a  respectable  boarding-house  " 
till  she  died.  Of  this,  of  course,  I  said  nothing,  only 
that  she  was  welcome  to  my  poor  dollar  and  a  half,  and 
that  I  should  receive  the  next  day  some  more  money  that 
was  due  me. 

"  You  forget,  Mr.  Carter,"  replied  Fausta,  as  proudly 
as  before,  —  "  you  forget  that  I  cannot  borrow  of  you  any 
more  than  of  a  boarding-house-keeper.  I  never  borrow. 
Please  God,  I  never  will.  It  must  be,"  she  added, 
"  that  in  a  Christian  city  like  this  there  is  some  respect- 
able and  fit  arrangement  made  for  travellers  who  find 
themselves  where  I  am.  What  that  provision  is  I  do 
not  know  :  but  I  will  find  out  what  it  is  before  this  sun 
goes  down." 

I  paused  a  moment  before  I  replied.  If  I  had  been 
fascinated  by  this  lovely  girl  before,  I  now  bowed  in 
respect  before  her  dignity  and  resolution ;  and,  with  my 
sympathy,  there  was  a  delicious  throb  of  self-respect 
united,  when  I  heard  her  lay  down  so  simply,  as  princi- 
ples of  her  life,  two  principles  on  which  I  had  always 
myself  tried  to  live.  The  half-expressed  habits  of  my 
boyhood  and  youth  were  now  uttered  for  me  as  axioms 
7* 


154  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

by  lips  which  I  knew  could  speak  nothing  but  right  and 
truth. 

I  paused  a  moment.  I  stumbled  a  little  as  I  expressed 
my  regret  that  she  would  not  let  me  help  her,  — joined 
with  my  certainty  that  she  was  in  the  right  in  refusing, 
—  and  then,  in  the  only  stiff  speech  I  ever  made  to  her, 
I  said :  — 

"  I  am  the  '  Child  of  the  Public.'  If  you  ever  hear 
my  story,  you  will  say  so  too.  At  the  least,  I  can  claim 
this,  that  I  have  a  right  to  help  you  in  your  quest  as  to 
the  way  in  which  the  public  will  help  you.  Thus  far  I 
am  clearly  the  officer  in  his  suite  to  whom  he  has  in- 
trusted you.  Are  you  ready,  then,  to  go  on  shore  ?  " 

Fausta  looked  around  on  that  forlorn  ladies'  saloon,  as 
if  it  were  the  last  link  holding  her  to  her  old  safe  world. 

"  Looked  upon  skylight,  lamp,  and  chain, 
As  what  she  ne'er  might  see  again." 

Then  she  looked  right  through  me ;  and  if  there  had 
been  one  mean  thought  in  me  at  that  minute,  she  would 
have  seen  the  viper.  Then  she  said  sadly,  — 

"  I  have  perfect  confidence  in  you,  though  people 
would  say  we  were  strangers.  Let  us  go." 

And  we  left  the  boat  together.  We  declined  the  in- 
vitations of  the  noisy  hackmen,  and  walked  slowly  to 
Broadway. 

We  stopped  at  the  station-house  for  that  district,  and 
to  the  attentive  chief  Fausta  herself  described  those  con- 
tents of  her  trunk  which  she  thought  would  be  most 
easily  detected,  if  offered  for  sale.  Her  mother's  Bible, 
at  which  the  chief  shook  his  head ;  Bibles,  alas  !  brought 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    155 

nothing  at  the  shops ;  a  soldier's  medal,  such  as  were 
given  as  target  prizes  by  the  Montgomery  regiment,  and 
a  little  silver  canteen,  marked  with  the  device  of  the 
same  regiment,  seemed  to  him  better  worthy  of  note. 
Her  portfolio  was  wrought  with  a  cipher,  and  she  ex- 
plained to  him  that  she  was  most  eager  that  this  should 
be  recovered.  The  pocket-book  contained  more  than  one 
hundred  dollars,  which  she  described,  but  he  shook  his 
head  here,  and  gave  her  but  little  hope  of  that,  if  the 
trunk  were  once  opened.  His  chief  hope  was  for  this 
morning. 

"  And  where  shall  we  send  to  you  then,  madam  ? " 
said  he. 

I  had  been  proud,  as  if  it  were  my  merit,  of  the  im- 
pression Fausta  had  made  upon  the  officer,  in  her  quiet, 
simple,  lady -like  dress  and  manner.  For  myself,  I  thought 
that  one  slip  of  pretence  in  my  dress  or  bearing,  a  scrap 
of  gold  or  of  pinchbeck,  would  have  ruined  both  of  us 
in  our  appeal.  But,  fortunately,  I  did  not  disgrace  her, 
and  the  man  looked  at  her  as  if  he  expected  her  to  say, 
"  Fourteenth  Street."  What  would  she  say  ? 

"  That  depends  upon  what  the  time  will  be.  Mr.  Car- 
ter will  call  at  noon,  and  will  let  you  know." 

We  bowed,  and  were  gone.  In  an  instant  more  she 
begged  my  pardon,  almost  with  tears ;  but  I  told  her 
that  if  she  also  had  been  a  "  Child  of  the  Public,"  she 
could  not  more  fitly  have  spoken  to  one  of  her  father's 
officers.  I  begged  her  to  use  me  as  her  protector,  and 
not  to  apologize  again.  Then  we  laid  out  the  plans 
which  we  followed  out  that  day. 

The  officer's  manner  had  reassured  her,  and  I  sue- 


156  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

ceeded  in  persuading  her  that  it  was  certain  we  should 
have  the  trunk  at  noon.  How  much  better  to  wait,  at 
least  so  far,  before  she  entered  on  any  of  the  enterprises 
of  which  she  talked  so  coolly,  as  of  offering  herself  as  a 
nursery-girl,  or  as  a  milliner,  to  whoever  would  employ 
her,  if  only  she  could  thus  secure  an  honest  home  till 
money  or  till  aunt  were  found.  Once  persuaded  that  we 
were  safe  from  this  Quixotism,  1  told  her  that  we  must 
go  on,  as  we  did  on  the  canal,  and  first  we  must  take  our 
constitutional  walk  for  two  hours. 

"  At  least,"  she  said,  "  our  good  papa,  the  Public, 
gives  us  wonderful  sights  to  see,  and  good  walking  to 
our  feet,  as  a  better  Father  has  given  us  this  heavenly 
sky  and  this  bracing  air." 

And  with  those  words  the  last  heaviness  of  despond- 
ency left  her  face  for  that  day.  And  we  plunged  into 
the  delicious  adventure  of  exploring  a  new  city,  staring 
into  windows  as  only  strangers  can,  revelling  in  print- 
shops  as  only  they  do,  really  seeing  the  fine  buildings  as 
residents  always  forget  to  do,  and  laying  up,  in  short, 
with  those  streets,  nearly  all  the  associations  which  to 
this  day  we  have  with  them. 

Two  hours  of  this  tired  us  with  walking,  of  course.  I 
do  not  know  what  she  meant  to  do  next ;  but  at  ten  I 
said,  "  Time  for  French,  Miss  Jones."  "  Ah  oui,"  said 
she,  "  mais  ou  ?  "  and  I  had  calculated  my  distances,  and 
led  her  at  once  into  Lafayette  Place  ;  and,  in  a  moment, 
pushed  open  the  door  of  the  Astor  Library,  led  her  up 
the  main  stairway,  and  said,  "  This  is  what  the  Public 
provides  for  his  children  when  they  have  to  study." 

"  This  is  the  Astor,"  said  she,  delighted.     "  And  we 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.     157 

are  all  right,  as  you  say,  here?"  Then  she  saw  that 
our  entrance  excited  no  surprise  among  the  few  read- 
ers, men  and  women,  who  were  beginning  to  assem- 
ble. 

We  took  our  seats  at  an  unoccupied  table,  and  began 
to  revel  in  the  luxuries  for  which  we  had  only  to  ask 
that  we  might  enjoy.  I  had  a  little  memorandum  of 
books  which  I  had  been  waiting  to  see.  She  needed 
none ;  but  looked  for  one  and  another,  and  yet  another, 
and  between  us  we  kept  the  attendant  well  in  motion. 
A  pleasant  thing  to  me  to  be  finding  out  her  thorough- 
bred tastes  and  lines  of  work,  and  I  was  happy  enough 
to  interest  her  in  some  of  my  pet  readings;  and,  of 
course,  for  she  was  a  woman,  to  get  quick  hints  which 
had  never  dawned  on  me  before.  A  very  short  hour 
,and  a  half  we  spent  there  before  I  went  to  the  station- 
house  again.  I  went  very  quickly,  I  returned  to  her 
very  slowly. 

The  trunk  was  not  found.  But  they  were  now  quite 
sure  they  were  on  its  track.  They  felt  certain  it  had 
been  carried  from  pier  to  pier  and  taken  back  up  the 
river.  Nor  was  it  hopeless  to  follow  it.  The  particular 
rascal  who  was  supposed  to  have  it  would  certainly  stop 
either  at  Piermont  or  at  Newburg.  They  had  tele- 
graphed to  both  places,  and  were  in  time  for  both. 
'•  The  day  boat,  sir,  will  bring  your  lady's  trunk,  and 
will  bring  me  Rowdy  Rob,  too,  I  hope,"  said  the  officer. 
But  at  the  same  moment,  as  he  rang  his  bell,  he  learned 
£hat  no  despatch  had  yet  been  received  from  either  of 
^e  nlaces  named.  I  did  not  feel  so  certain  as  he  did. 

Eut  Fausta  showed  no  discomfort  as  I  told  my  news. 


158  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

"  Thus  far,"  said  she,  "  the  Public  serves  me  well.  I 
will  borrow  no  trouble  by  want  of  faith."  And  I,  —  as 
Dante  would  say,  —  and  I,  to  her,  "  Will  you  let  me  re- 
mind you,  then,  that  at  one  we  dine ;  that  Mrs.  Grills 
is  now  placing  the  salt-pork  upon  the  cabin  table,  and 
Mr.  Grills  asking  the  blessing ;  and,  as  this  is  the  only 
day  when  I  can  have  the  honor  of  your  company,  will 
you  let  me  show  you  how  a  Child  of  the  Public  dines, 
when  his  finances  are  low?" 

Pausta  laughed,  and  said  again,  less  tragically  than 
before,  "I  have  perfect  confidence  in  you,"  —  little 
thinking  how  she  started  my  blood  with  the  words ;  but 
this  time,  as  if  in  token,  she  let  me  take  her  hand  upon 
my  arm,  as  we  walked  down  the  street  together. 

If  we  had  been  snobs,  or  even  if  I  had  been  one,  I 
should  have  taken  her  to  Taylor's,  and  have  spent  all  the 
money  I  had  on  such  a  luncheon  as  neither  of  us  had 
ever  eaten  before.  Whatever  else  I  am,  I  am  not  a  snob 
of  that  sort.  I  show  my  colors.  I  led  her  into  a  little 
cross-street  which  I  had  noticed  in  our  erratic  morning 
pilgrimage.  We  stopped  at  a  German  baker's.  I  bade 
her  sit  down  at  the  neat  marble  table,  and  I  bought  two 
rolls.  She  declined  lager,  which  I  offered  her  in  fun. 
We  took  water  instead,  and  we  had  dined,  and  had  paid 
two  cents  for  our  meal,  and  had  had  a  very  merry  din- 
ner, too,  when  the  clock  struck  two. 

"  And  now,  Mr.  Carter,"  said  she,  "  I  will  steal  no 
more  of  your  day.  You  did  not  come  to  New  York  to 
escort  lone  damsels  to  the  Astor  Library  or  to  dinner. 
Nor  did  I  come  only  to  see  the  lions  or  to  read  Prench. 
I  insist  on  your  going  to  your  affairs,  and  leaving  me  to 


THE  CHILDEEN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    159 

mine.  If  you  will  meet  me  at  the  Library  half  an  hour 
before  it  closes,  I  will  thank  you;  till  then,"  with  a 
tragedy  shake  of  the  hand,  and  a  merry  laugh,  "  adieu !  " 

I  knew  very  well  that  no  harm  could  happen  to  her  in 
two  hours  of  an  autumn  afternoon.  I  was  not  sorry  for 
her  conge,  for  it  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  follow  my 
own  plans.  I  stopped  at  one  or  two  cabinet-makers,  and 
talked  with  the  "jours"  about  work,  that  I  might  tell 
her  with  truth  that  I  had  been  in  search  of  it;  then 
I  sedulously  began  on  calling  upon  every  man  I  could 
reach  named  Mason.  O,  how  often  I  went  through  one 
phase  or  another  of  this  colloquy  :  — 

"  Is  Mr.  Mason  in  ?  " 

"  That 's  my  name,  sir." 

"  Can  you  give  me  the  address  of  Mr.  Mason  who 
returned  from  Europe  last  May  ?  " 

"Know  no  such  person,  sir." 

The  reader  can  imagine  how  many  forms  this  dia- 
logue could  be  repeated,  in,  before,  as  I  wrought  my  way 
through  a  long  line  of  dry-goods  cases  to  a  distant 
counting-room,  I  heard  some  one  in  it  say,  "  No,  mad- 
am, I  know  no  such  person  as  you  describe  "  ;  and  from 
the  recess  Fausta  emerged  and  met  me.  Her  plan  for 
the  afternoon  had  been  the  same  with  mine.  We  laughed 
as  we  detected  each  other  ;  then  I  told  her  she  had  had 
quite  enough  of  this,  that  it  was  time  she  should  rest,  and 
took  her,  nolens  volens,  into  the  ladies'  parlor  of  the  St. 
Nicholas,  and  bade  her  wait  there  through  the  twilight, 
with  my  copy  of  Clementine,  till  I  should  return  from 
the  police-station.  If  the  reader  has  ever  waited  in  such 
a  place  for  some  one  to  come  and  attend  to  him,  he  will 


160  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

understand  that  nobody  mil  be  apt  to  molest  him  when 
he  has  not  asked  for  attention. 

Two  hours  I  left  Fausta  in  the  rocking-chair,  which 
there  the  Public  had  provided  for  her.  Then  I  returned, 
sadly  enough.  No  tidings  of  Rowdy  Rob,  none  of 
trunk,  Bible,  money,  letter,  medal,  or  anything.  Still 
was  my  district  sergeant  hopeful,  and,  as  always,  re. 
spectful.  But  I  was  hopeless  this  time,  and  I  knew  that 
the  next  day  Fausta  would  be  plunging  into  the  war 
with  intelligence-houses  and  advertisements.  For  the 
night,  I  was  determined  that  she  should  spend  it  in  my 
ideal  "  respectable  boarding-house."  On  my  way  down 
town,  I  stopped  in  at  one  or  two  shops  to  make  inquiries, 
and  satisfied  myself  where  I  would  take  her.  Still  I 
thought  it  wisest  that  we  should  go  after  tea ;  and  an- 
other cross-street  baker,  and  another  pair  of  rolls,  and 
another  tap  at  the  Croton,  provided  that  repast  for  us. 
Then  I  told  Fausta  of  the  respectable  boarding-house, 
and  that  she  must  go  there.  She  did  not  say  no.  But 
she  did  say  she  would  rather  not  spend  the  evening 
there.  "  There  must  be  some  place  open  for  us,"  said 
she.  "  There !  there  is  a  church-bell !  The  church  is 
always  home.  Let  us  come  there." 

So  to  "  evening  meeting  "  we  went,  startling  the  sex- 
ton by  arriving  an  hour  early.  If  there  were  any  who 
wondered  what  was  the  use  of  that  Wednesday-evening 
service,  we  did  not.  In  a  dark  gallery  pew  we  sat,  she 
at  one  end,  I  at  the  other;  and,  if  the  whole  truth  be 
told,  each  of  us  fell  asleep  at  once,  and  slept  till  the 
heavy  organ  tones  taught  us  that  the  service  had  begun. 
A  hundred  or  more  people  had  straggled  in  then,  and  the 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.     161 

preacher,  good  soul,  he  took  for  his  text,  "  Doth  not  God 
care  for  the  ravens  ?  "  I  cannot  describe  the  ineffable 
feeling  of  home  that  came  over  me  in  that  dark  pew  of 
that  old  church.  I  had  never  been  in  so  large  a  church 
before.  I  had  never  heard  so  heavy  an  organ  before. 
Perhaps  I  had  heard  better  preaching,  but  never  any 
that  came  to  my  occasions  more.  But  it  was  none  of 
these  things  which  moved  me.  It  was  the  fact  that  we 
were  just  where  we  had  a  right  to  be.  No  impudent 
waiter  could  ask  us  why  we  were  sitting  there,  nor  any 
petulant  policeman  propose  that  we  should  push  on.  It 
was  God's  house,  and,  because  his,  it  was  his  children's. 

All  this  feeling  of  repose  grew  upon  me,  and,  as  it 
proved,  upon  Fausta  also.  For  when  the  service  was 
ended,  and  I  ventured  to  ask  her  whether  she  also  had 
this  sense  of  home  and  rest,  she  assented  so  eagerly,  that 
I  proposed,  though  with  hesitation,  a  notion  which  had 
crossed  me,  that  I  should  leave  her  there. 

"  I  cannot  think,"  I  said,  "  of  any  possible  harm  that 
could  come  to  you  before  morning." 

"Do  you  know,  I  had  thought  of  that  very  same 
thing,  but  I  did  not  dare  tell  you,"  she  said. 

Was  not  I  glad  that  she  had  considered  me  her 
keeper !  But  I  only  said,  "  At  the  '  respectable  boarding- 
house  '  you  might  be  annoyed  by  questions." 

"And  no  one  will  speak  to  me  here.  I  know  that 
from  Goody  Two-Shoes." 

"  I  will  be  here,"  said  I,  "  at  sunrise  in  the  morning." 
And  so  I  bade  her  good  by,  insisting  on  leaving  in  the 
pew  my  own  great-coat.  I  knew  she  might  need  it 
before  morning.  I  walked  out  as  the  sexton  closed  the 

K 


162  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

door  below  on  the  last  of  the  down-stairs  worshippers. 
He  passed  along  the  aisles  below,  with  his  long  poker 
which  screwed  down  the  gas.  I  saw  at  once  that  he  had 
no  intent  of  exploring  the  galleries.  But  I  loitered  out- 
side till  I  saw  him  lock  the  doors  and  depart ;  and  then, 
happy  in  the  thought  that  Miss  Jones  was  in  the  safest 
place  in  New  York,  —  as  comfortable  as  she  was  the 
night  before,  and  much  more  comfortable  than  she  had 
been  any  night  upon  the  canal,  —  I  went  in  search  of  my 
own  lodging. 

"  To  the  respectable  boarding-house  ?  " 

Not  a  bit,  reader.  I  had  no  shillings  for  respectable 
or  disrespectable  boarding-houses.  I  asked  the  first 
policeman  where  his  district  station  was.  I  went  into 
its  office,  and  told  the  captain  that  I  was  green  in  the 
city ;  had  got  no  work  and  no  money.  In  truth,  I  had 
left  my  purse  in  Miss  Jones's  charge,  and  a  five-cent 
piece,  which  I  showed  the  chief,  was  all  I  had.  He  said 
no  word  but  to  bid  me  go  up  two  flights  and  turn  into 
the  first  bunk  I  found.  I  did  so ;  and  in  five  minutes 
was  asleep  in  a  better  bed  than  I  had  slept  in  for  nine 
days. 

That  was  what  the  Public  did  for  me  that  night.  I, 
too,  was  safe ! 

I  am  making  this  story  too  long.  But  with  that  night 
and  its  anxieties  the  end  has  come.  At  sunrise  I  rose 
and  made  my  easy  toilet.  I  bought  and  ate  my  roll,  — 
varying  the  brand  from  yesterday's.  I  bought  another, 
with  a  lump  of  butter,  and  an  orange,  for  Fausta.  I  left 
my  portmanteau  at  the  station,  while  I  rushed  to  the 
sexton's  house,  told  his  wife  I  had  left  my  gloves  in 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    163 

church  the  night  before, — as  was  the  truth,  —  and  easily 
obtained  from  her  the  keys.  In  a  moment  I  was  in  the 
vestibule,  —  locked  in,  —  was  in  the  gallery,  and  there 
found  Eausta,  just  awake,  as  she  declared,  from  a  com- 
fortable night,  reading  her  morning  lesson  in  the  Bible, 
and  sure,  she  said,  that  I  should  soon  appear.  Nor 
ghost,  nor  wraith,  had  visited  her.  I  spread  for  her  a 
brown  paper  table-cloth  on  the  table  in  the  vestibule.  I 
laid  out  her  breakfast  for  her,  called  her,  and  wondered 
at  her  toilet.  How  is  it  that  women  always  make  them- 
selves appear  as  neat  and  finished  as  if  there  were  no 
conflict,  dust,  or  wrinkle  in  the  world? 

[Here  Fausta  adds,  in  this  manuscript,  a  parenthesis, 
to  say  that  she  folded  her  undersleeves  neatly,  and  her 
collar,  before  she  slept,  and  put  them  between  the  cush- 
ions, upon  which  she  slept.  In  the  morning  they  had 
been  pressed  —  without  a  sad-iron.] 

She  finished  her  repast.  I  opened  the  church-door  for 
five  minutes.  She  passed  out  when  she  had  enough  ex- 
amined the  monuments,  and  at  a  respectable  distance  I 
followed  her.  We  joined  each  other,  and  took  our  ac- 
customed morning  walk;  but  then  she  resolutely  said, 
"  Good  by,"  for  the  day.  She  would  find  work  before 
night,  —  work  and  a  home.  And  I  must  do  the  same. 
Only  when  I  pressed  her  to  let  me  know  of  her  success, 
she  said  she  would  meet  me  at  the  Astor  Library  just 
before  it  closed.  No,  she  would  not  take  my  money. 
Enough,  that  for  twenty-four  hours  she  had  been  my 
guest.  When  she  had  found  her  aunt  and  told  her  the 
story,  they  should  insist  on  repaying  this  hospitality. 
Hospitality,  dear  reader,  which  I  had  dispensed  at  the 


164  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

charge  of  six  cents.  Have  you  ever  treated  Miranda  for 
a  day  and  found  the  charge  so  low?  When  I  urged 
other  assistance  she  said  resolutely,  "  No."  In  fact,  she 
had  already  made  an  appointment  at  two,  she  said,  and 
she  must  not  waste  the  day. 

I  also  had  an  appointment  at  two ;  for  it  was  at  that 
hour  that  Burrham  was  to  distribute  the  cyclopaedias  at 
Castle  Garden.  The  Emigrant  Commission  had  not  yet 
seized  it  for  their  own.  I  spent  the  morning  in  asking 
vainly  for  Masons  fresh  from  Europe,  and  for  work  in 
cabinet-shops.  I  found  neither,  and  so  wrought  my  way 
to  the  appointed  place,  where,  instead  of  such  wretched 
birds  in  the  bush,  I  was  to  get  one  so  contemptible  in 
my  hand. 

Those  who  remember  Jenny  Lind's  first  triumph  night 
at  Castle  Garden  have  some  idea  of  the  crowd  as  it  filled 
gallery  and  floor  of  that  immense  hall  when  I  entered. 
I  had  given  no  thought  to  the  machinery  of  this  folly. 
I  only  know  that  my  ticket  bade  me  be  there  at  two 
p.  M.  this  day.  But  as  I  drew  near,  the  throng,  the 
bands  of  policemen,  the  long  queues  of  persons  entering, 
reminded  me  that  here  was  an  affair  of  ten  thousand  per- 
sons, and  also  that  Mr.  Burrham  was  not  unwilling  to 
make  it  as  showy,  perhaps  as  noisy,  an  affair  as  was 
respectable,  by  way  of  advertising  future  excursions  and 
distributions.  I  was  led  to  seat  No.  3,671  with  a  good 
deal  of  parade,  and  when  I  came  there  I  found  I  was 
very  much  of  a  prisoner.  I  was  late,  or  rather  on  the 
stroke  of  two.  Immediately,  almost,  Mr.  Burrham  arose 
in  the  front  and  made  a  long  speech  about  his  liberality, 
and  the  public's  liberality,  and  everybody's  liberality  in 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    165 

general,  and  the  method  of  the  distribution  in  particular. 
The  mayor  and  four  or  five  other  well-known  and  re- 
spectable gentlemen  were  kind  enough  to  be  present  to 
guarantee  the  fairness  of  the  arrangements.  At  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  mayor  and  the  police,  the  doors  would  now 
be  closed,  that  no  persons  might  interrupt  the  ceremony 
till  it  was  ended.  And  the  distribution  of  the  cyclopae- 
dias would  at  once  go  forward,  in  the  order  in  which  the 
lots  were  drawn,  —  earliest  numbers  securing  the  earliest 
impressions ;  which,  as  Mr.  Burrham  almost  regretted  to 
say,  were  a  little  better  than  the  latest.  After  these  had 
been  distributed  two  figures  would  be  drawn,  —  one 
green  and  one  red,  to  indicate  the  fortunate  lady  and 
gentleman  who  would  receive  respectively  the  profits 
which  had  arisen  from  this  method  of  selling  the  cyclo- 
paedias, after  the  expenses  of  printing  and  distribution 
had  been  covered,  and  after  the  magazines  had  been 
ordered. 

Great  cheering  followed  this  announcement  from  all 
but  me.  Here  I  had  shut  myself  up  in  this  humbug 
hall,  for  Heaven  knew  how  long,  on  the  most  important 
day  of  my  life.  I  would  have  given  up  willingly  my 
cyclopaedia  and  my  chance  at  the  "  profits,"  for  the  cer- 
tainty of  seeing  Fausta  at  five  o'clock.  If  I  did  not  see 
her  then,  what  might  befall  her,  and  when  might  I  see 
her  again  ?  An  hour  before  this  certainty  was  my  own ; 
now  it  was  only  mine  by  my  liberating  myself  from  this 
prison.  Still  I  was  encouraged  by  seeing  that  every- 
thing was  conducted  like  clock-work.  Prom  literally  a 
hundred  stations  they  were  distributing  the  books.  We 
formed  ourselves  into  queues  as  we  pleased,  drew  our 


166  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

numbers,  and  then  presented  ourselves  at  the  bureaux, 
ordered  our  magazines,  and  took  our  cyclopaedias.  It 
would  be  done,  at  that  rate,  by  half  past  four.  An  om- 
nibus might  bring  me  to  the  Park,  and  a  Bowery  car  do 
the  rest  in  time.  After  a  vain  discussion  for  the  right  of 
exit  with  one  or  two  of  the  attendants,  I  abandoned  my- 
self to  this  hope,  and  began  studying  my  cyclopaedia. 

It  was  sufficiently  amusing  to  see  ten  thousand  peo- 
ple resign  themselves  to  the  same  task,  and  affect  to  be 
unconcerned  about  the  green  and  red  figures  which  were 
to  divide  the  "  profits."  I  tried  to  make  out  who  were 
as  anxious  to  get  out  of  that  tawdry  den  as  I  was.  Tour 
o'clock  struck,  and  the  distribution  was  not  done.  I 
began  to  be  very  impatient.  What  if  Fausta  fell  into 
trouble  ?  I  knew,  or  hoped  I  knew,  that  she  would  strug- 
gle to  the  Astor  Library,  as  to  her  only  place  of  rescue 
and  refuge,  —  her  asylum.  What  if  I  failed  her  there  ? 
I  who  had  pretended  to  be  her  protector !  "  Protector, 
indeed !  "  she  would  say,  if  she  knew  I  was  at  a  theatre 
witnessing  the  greatest  folly  of  the  age.  And  if  I  did 
not  meet  her  to-day,  when  should  I  meet  her  ?  If  she 
found  her  aunt,  how  should  I  find  her  ?  If  she  did  not 
find  her,  —  good  God  !  that  was  worse,  —  where  might 
she  not  be  before  twelve  hours  were  over?  Then  the 
fatal  trunk !  I  had  told  the  police  agent  he  might  send 
it  to  the  St.  Nicholas,  because  I  had  to  give  him  some 
address.  But  Fausta  did  not  know  this,  and  the  St. 
Nicholas  people  knew  nothing  of  us.  I  grew  more  and 
more  excited,  and  when  at  last  my  next  neighbor  told  me 
that  it  was  half  past  four,  I  rose  and  insisted  on  leaving 
my  seat.  Two  ushers  with  blue  sashes  almost  held  me 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    167 

down ;  they  showed  me  the  whole  assembly  sinking  into 
quiet.  In  fact,  at  that  moment  Mr.  Burrham  was  beg- 
ging every  one  to  be  seated.  I  would  not  be  seated.  I 
would  go  to  the  door.  I  would  go  out.  "  Go,  if  you 
please  !  "  said  the  usher  next  it,  contemptuously.  And 
I  looked,  and  there  was  no  handle  !  Yet  this  was  not  a 
dream.  It  is  the  way  they  arrange  the  doors  in  halls 
where  they  choose  to  keep  people  in  their  places.  I 
could  have  collared  that  grinning  blue  sash.  I  did  tell 
him  I  would  wring  his  precious  neck  for  him,  if  he  did 
not  let  me  out.  I  said  I  would  sue  him  for  false  impris- 
onment ;  I  would  have  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus. 

"  Habeas  corpus  be  d — d !  "  said  the  officer,  with  an 
irreverent  disrespect  to  the  palladium.  "  If  you  are  not 
more  civil,  sir,  I  will  call  the  police,  of  whom  we  have 
plenty.  You  say  you  want  to  go  out ;  you  are  keeping 
everybody  in." 

And,  in  fact,  at  that  moment  the  clear  voice  of  the 
mayor  was  announcing  that  they  would  not  go  on  until 
there  was  perfect  quiet ;  and  I  felt  that  I  was  imprison- 
ing all  these  people,  not  they  me. 

"  Child  of  the  Public,"  said  my  mourning  genius, 
"are  you  better  than  other  men?"  So  I  sneaked  back 
to  seat  No.  3,671,  amid  the  contemptuous  and  reproach- 
ful looks  and  sneers  of  my  more  respectable  neighbors, 
who  had  sat  where  they  were  told  to  do.  We  must  be 
through  in  a  moment,  and  perhaps  Fausta  would  be  late 
also.  If  only  the  Astor  would  keep  open  after  sunset ! 
How  often  have  I  wished  that  since,  and  for  less  rea- 
Bons ! 

Silence  thus  restored,  Mr.  A ,  the  mayor,  led  for- 


168  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

ward  his  little  daughter,  blindfolded  her,  and  bade  her 
put  her  hand  into  a  green  box,  from  which  she  drew  out 
a  green  ticket.  He  took  it  from  her,  and  read,  in  his 
clear  voice  again,  "No.  2,973  !"  By  this  time  we  all 
knew  where  the  "  two  thousands "  sat.  Then  "  nine 
hundreds "  were  not  far  from  the  front,  so  that  it  was 
not  far  that  that  frightened  girl,  dressed  all  in  black,  and 
heavily  veiled,  had  to  walk,  who  answered  to  this  call. 

Mr.  A met  her,  helped  her  up  the  stair  upon  the 

stage,  took  from  her  her  ticket,  and  read,  "  Jerusha 
Stillingfleet,  of  Yellow  Springs,  who,  at  her  death,  as  it 
seems,  transferred  this  right  to  the  bearer." 

The  disappointed  nine  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  joined  in  a  rapturous  cheer,  each  man  and 
woman,  to  show  that  he  or  she  was  not  disappointed. 
The  bearer  spoke  with  Mr.  Burrham,  in  answer  to  his 
questions,  and,  with  a  good  deal  of  ostentation,  he 
opened  a  check-book,  filled  a  check  and  passed  it  to  her, 
she  signing  a  receipt  as  she  took  it,  and  transferring  to 
him  her  ticket.  So  far,  in  dumb  show,  all  was  well. 
What  was  more  to  my  purpose,  it  was  rapid,  for  we 
should  have  been  done  in  five  minutes  more,  but  that 
some  devil  tempted  some  loafer  in  a  gallery  to  cry, 
"  Face !  face !  "  Miss  Stillingfleet's  legatee  was  still 
heavily  veiled. 

In  one  horrid  minute  that  whole  amphitheatre,  which 
seemed  to  me  then  more  cruel  than  the  Coliseum  ever 
was,  rang  out  with  a  cry  of  "  Face,  face  !  "  I  tried  the 
counter-cry  of  "  Shame !  shame ! "  but  I  was  in  dis- 
grace among  my  neighbors,  and  a  counter-cry  neve? 
takes  as  its  prototype  does,  either.  At  first,  on  the 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.     169 

stage,  they  affected  not  to  hear  or  understand;  then 
there  was  a  courtly  whisper  between  Mr.  Burrhara  and 
the  lady ;  but  Mr.  A ,  the  mayor,  and  the  respecta- 
ble gentlemen,  instantly  interfered.  It  was  evident  that 
she  would  not  unveil,  and  that  they  were  prepared  to  in- 
dorse her  refusal.  In  a  moment  more  she  courtesied  to 
the  assembly ;  the  mayor  gave  her  his  arm,  and  led  her 
out  through  a  side  door. 

O,  the  yell  that  rose  up  then !  The  whole  assembly 
stood  up,  and,  as  if  they  had  lost  some  vested  right, 
hooted  and  shrieked,  "Back!  back!  Face!  face!" 

Mr.  A returned,  made  as  if  he  would  speak,  came 

forward  to  the  very  front,  and  got  a  moment's  silence. 

"  It  is  not  in  the  bond,  gentlemen,"  said  he.  "  The 
young  lady  is  unwilling  to  unveil,  and  we  must  not  com- 
pel her." 

"  Face !  face ! "  was  the  only  answer,  and  oranges 
from  up  stairs  flew  about  his  head  and  struck  upon  the 
table,  —  an  omen  only  fearful  from  what  it  prophesied. 
Then  there  was  such  a  row  for  five  minutes  as  I  hope  I 
may  never  see  or  hear  again.  People  kept  their  places, 
fortunately,  under  a  vague  impression  that  they  should 
forfeit  some  magic  rights  if  they  left  those  numbered 
seats.  But  when,  for  a  moment,  a  file  of  policemen  ap- 
peared in  the  orchestra,  a  whole  volley  of  cyclopedias 
fell  like  rain  upon  their  chief,  with  a  renewed  cry  of 
"Face!  face!" 

At  this  juncture,  with  a  good  deal  of  knowledge  of 

popular  feeling,  Mr.  A led  forward  his  child  again. 

Frightened  to  death  the  poor  thing  was,  and  crying ;  he 
tied  his  handkerchief  round  her  eyes  hastily,  and  took 

VOL.  XII.  8 


170  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

her  to  the  red  box.  Eor  a  minute  the  house  was  hushed. 
A  cry  of  "  Down !  down !  "  and  every  one  took  his 
place  as  the  child  gave  the  red  ticket  to  her  father.  He 
read  it  as  before,  "No.  3,671 !"  I  heard  the  words  as 
if  he  did  not  speak  them.  All  excited  by  the  delay  and 
the  row,  by  the  injustice  to  the  stranger  and  the  per- 
sonal injustice  of  everybody  to  me,  I  did  not  know,  for 
a  dozen  seconds,  that  every  one  was  looking  towards  our 
side  of  the  house,  nor  was  it  till  my  next  neighbor  with 
the  watch  said,  "  Go,  you  fool,"  that  I  was  aware  that 
3,671  was  I !  Even  then,  as  I  stepped  down  the  pas- 
sage and  up  the  steps,  my  only  feeling  was,  that  I  should 
get  out  of  this  horrid  trap,  and  possibly  find  Miss  Jones 
lingering  near  the  Astor,  —  not  by  any  means  that  I  was 
invited  to  take  a  check  for  $  5,000. 

There  was  not  much  cheering.  Women  never  mean 
to  cheer,  of  course.  The  men  had  cheered  the  green 
ticket,  but  they  were  mad  with  the  red  one.  I  gave  up 
my  ticket,  signed  my  receipt,  and  took  my  check,  shook 

hands  with  Mr.  A and  Mr.  Burrham,  and  turned 

to  bow  to  the  mob,  —  for  mob  I  must  call  it  now.  But 
the  cheers  died  away.  A  few  people  tried  to  go  out,  per- 
haps, but  there  was  nothing  now  to  retain  any  in  their 
seats  as  before,  and  the  generality  rose,  pressed  down 
the  passages,  and  howled,  "  Face  !  face  !  "  I  thought  for 
a  moment  that  I  ought  to  say  something,  but  they  would 
not  hear  me,  and,  after  a  moment's  pause,  my  passion 
to  depart  overwhelmed  me.  I  muttered  some  apology 
to  the  gentlemen,  and  left  the  stage  by  the  stage-door. 

I  had  forgotten  that  to  Castle  Garden  there  can  be  no 
back  entrance.  I  came  to  door  after  door,  which  were 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    171 

all  locked.  It  was  growing  dark.  Evidently  the  sun 
was  set,  and  I  knew  the  library-door  would  be  shut  at 
sunset.  The  passages  were  very  obscure.  All  around 
me  rang  this  horrid  yell  of  the  mob,  in  which  all  that  I 
could  discern  was  the  cry,  "  Face,  face !  "  At  last,  as  I 
groped  round,  I  came  to  a  practicable  door.  I  entered 
a  room  where  the  western  sunset  glare  dazzled  me.  I 
was  not  alone.  The  veiled  lady  in  black  was  there. 
But  the  instant  she  saw  me  she  sprang  towards  me,  flung 
herself  into  my  arms,  and  cried :  — 

"  Felix,  is  it  you  ?  —  you  are  indeed  my  protector !  " 

It  was  Miss  Jones !  It  was  Fausta !  She  was  the 
legatee  of  Miss  Stillingfleet.  My  first  thought  was,  "  0, 
if  that  beggarly  usher  had  let  me  go  !  Will  I  ever,  ever 
think  I  have  better  rights  than  the  Public  again  ?  " 

I  took  her  in  my  arms.  I  carried  her  to  the  sofa.  I 
could  hardly  speak  for  excitement.  Then  I  did  say  that 
I  had  been  wild  with  terror ;  that  I  had  feared  I  had  lost 
her,  and  lost  her  forever ;  that  to  have  lost  that  inter- 
view would  have  been  worse  to  me  than  death;  for 
unless  she  knew  that  I  loved  her  better  than  man  ever 
loved  woman,  I  could  not  face  a  lonely  night,  and 
another  lonely  day. 

"  My  dear,  dear  child,"  I  said,  "  you  may  think  me 
wild ;  but  I  must  say  this,  —  it  has  been  pent  up  too 
long." 

"  Say  what  you  will,"  she  said  after  a  moment,  in 
•which  still  I  held  her  in  my  arms ;  she  was  trembling  so 
that  she  could  not  have  sat  upright  alone,  —  "  say  what 
you  will,  if  only  you  do  not  tell  me  to  spend  another  day 
alone." 


172  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

And  I  kissed  her,  and  I  kissed  her,  and  I  kissed  her, 
and  I  said,  "  Never,  darling,  God  helping  me,  till  I  die !  " 

How  long  we  sat  there  I  do  not  know.  Neither  of  us 
spoke  again.  For  one,  I  looked  out  on  the  sunset  and 
the  bay.  We  had  but  just  time  to  rearrange  ourselves 

in  positions  more  independent,  when  Mr.  A came 

in,  this  time  in  alarm,  to  say :  — 

"  Miss  Jones,  we  must  get  you  out  of  this  place,  or 
we  must  hide  you  somewhere.  I  believe,  before  God, 
they  will  storm  this  passage,  and  pull  the  house  about 
our  ears." 

He  said  this,  not  conscious,  as  he  began,  that  I  was 
there.  At  that  moment,  however,  I  felt  as  if  I  could 
have  met  a  million  men.  I  started  forward  and  passed 
him,  saying,  "  Let  me  speak  to  them."  I  rushed  upon 
the  stage,  fairly  pushing  back  two  or  three  bullies  who 
were  already  upon  it.  I  sprang  upon  the  table,  kicking 
down  the  red  box  as  I  did  so,  so  that  the  red  tickets 
fell  on  the  floor  and  on  the  people  below.  One  stuck  in 
an  old  man's  spectacles  in  a  way  which  made  the  people 
in  the  galleries  laugh.  A  laugh  is  a  great  blessing  at 
such  a  moment.  Curiosity  is  another.  Three  loud  words 
spoken  like  thunder  do  a  good  deal  more.  And  after 
three  words  the  house  was  hushed  to  hear  me.  I 
said:  — 

"  Be  fair  to  the  girl.  She  has  no  father  nor  mother. 
She  has  no  brother  nor  sister.  She  is  alone  in  the  world, 
with  nobody  to  help  her  but  the  public  —  and  me !  " 

The  audacity  of  the  speech  brought  out  a  cheer,  and 
we  should  have  come  off  in  triumph,  when  some  rowdy 
• —  the  original  "  face  "  man,  I  suppose  —  said,  — 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  PUBLIC.    173 

"  And  who  are  you  ?  " 

If  the  laugh  went  against  me  now  I  was  lost,  of 
course.  Fortunately  I  had  no  time  to  think.  I  said 
without  thinking,  — 

"I  am  the  Child  of  the  Public,  and  her  betrothed 
husband !  " 

0  heavens !  what  a  yell  of  laughter,  of  hurrahings,  of 
satisfaction  with  a  denouement,  rang  through  the  house, 
and  showed  that  all  was  well.     Burrham  caught  the 
moment,  and  started  his  band,  this  time  successfully,  — 
I  believe  with  "  See  the  Conquering  Hero."    The  doors, 
of  course,  had  been  open  long  before.    Well-disposed 
people  saw  they  need  stay  no  longer ;  ill-disposed  people 
dared  not  stay ;  the  blue-coated  men  with  buttons  saun- 
tered on  the  stage  in  groups,  and  I  suppose  the  worst 
rowdies  disappeared  as  they  saw  them.     I  had  made  my 
single  speech,  and  for  the  moment  I  was  a  hero. 

1  believe  the  mayor  would  have  liked  to  kiss  me. 
Burrham  almost  did.    They  overwhelmed  me  with  thanks 
and  congratulations.    All  these  I  received  as  well  as  I 
could,  —  somehow  I  did  not  feel  at  all  surprised,  — 
everything  was  as  it  should  be.    I  scarcely  thought  of 
leaving  the  stage  myself,  till,  to  my  surprise,  the  mayor 
asked  me  to  go  home  with  him  to  dinner. 

Then  I  remembered  that  we  were  not  to  spend  the 
rest  of  our  lives  in  Castle  Garden.  I  blundered  out 
something  about  Miss  Jones,  that  she  had  no  escort 
except  me,  and  pressed  into  her  room  to  find  her.  A 
group  of  gentlemen  was  around  her.  Her  veil  was  back 
now.  She  was  very  pale,  but  very  lovely.  Have  I  said 
that  she  was  beautiful  as  heaven  ?  She  was  the  queen  of 


174  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

the  room,  modestly  and  pleasantly  receiving  their  felicita* 
tions  that  the  danger  was  over,  and  owning  that  she  had 
been  very  much  frightened.  "  Until,"  she  said,  "  my 
friend,  Mr.  Carter,  was  fortunate  enough  to  guess  that  I 
was  here.  How  he  did  it,"  she  said,  turning  to  me,  "  is 
yet  an  utter  mystery  to  me." 

She  did  not  know  till  then  that  it  was  I  who  had 
shared  with  her  the  profits  of  the  cyclopaedias. 

As  soon  as  we  could  excuse  ourselves,  I  asked  some 
one  to  order  a  carriage.  I  sent  to  the  ticket-office  for 
my  valise,  and  we  rode  to  the  St.  Nicholas.  I  fairly 
laughed  as  I  gave  the  hackman  at  the  hotel-door  what 
would  have  been  my  last  dollar  and  a  half  only  two  hours 
before.  I  entered  Miss  Jones's  name  and  my  own. 
The  clerk  looked,  and  said  inquiringly,  — 

"Is  it  Miss  Jones's  trunk  which  came  this  after- 
noon ?  " 

I  followed  his  finger  to  see  the  trunk  on  the  marble 
floor.  Rowdy  Rob  had  deserted  it,  having  seen,  per- 
haps, a  detective  when  he  reached  Piermont.  The  trunk 
had  gone  to  Albany,  had  found  no  owner,  and  had  re- 
turned by  the  day  boat  of  that  day. 

Pausta  went  to  her  room,  and  I  sent  her  supper  after 
her.  One  kiss  and  "  Good  night "  was  all  that  I  got 
from  her  then. 

"  In  the  morning,"  said  she,  "  you  shall  explain." 

It  was  not  yet  seven.  I  went  to  my  own  room  and 
dressed,  and  tendered  myself  at  the  mayor's  just  before 
his  gay  party  sat  down  to  dine.  I  met,  for  the  first  time 
in  my  life,  men  whose  books  I  had  read,  and  whose 
speeches  I  had  by  heart,  and  women  whom  I  have  since 


THE  CHILDREN  OP  THE  PUBLIC.    175 

known  to  honor ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  this  brilliant  group, 

so  excited  had  Mr.  A been  in  telling  the  strange 

story  of  the  day,  I  was,  for  the  hour,  the  lion. 

I  led  Mrs.  A to  the  table ;  I  made  her  laugh  very 

heartily  by  telling  her  of  the  usher's  threats  to  me,  and 
mine  to  him,  and  of  the  disgrace  into  which  I  fell  among 
the  three  thousand  six  hundreds.  I  had  never  been  at 
any  such  party  before.  But  I  found  it  was  only  rather 
simpler  and  more  quiet  than  most  parties  I  had  seen, 
that  its  good  breeding  was  exactly  that  of  dear  Betsy 
Myers. 

As  the  party  broke  up,  Mrs.  A said  to  me,  — 

"Mr.  Carter,  I  am  sure  you  are  tired,  with  all  this 
excitement.  You  say  you  are  a  stranger  here.  Let  me 
send  round  for  your  trunk  to  the  St.  Nicholas,  and  you 
sliall  spend  the  night  here.  I  know  I  can  make  you  a 
better  bed  than  they." 

I  thought  as  much  myself,  and  assented.  In  half  an 
hour  more  I  was  in  bed  in  Mrs.  A 's  "  best  room." 

"  I  shall  not  sleep  better,"  said  I  to  myself,  "  than  I 
did  last  night." 

That  was  what  the  Public  did  for  me  that  night.  I 
was  safe  again ! 

in. 

FATJSTA'S  STOBY. 

FATJSTA  slept  late,  poor  child.  I  called  for  her  before 
breakfast.  I  waited  for  her  after.  About  ten  she  ap- 
peared, so  radiant,  so  beautiful,  and  so  kind!  The 
trunk  had  revealed  a  dress  I  never  saw  before,  and  the 


176  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

sense  of  rest,  and  eternal  security,  and  unbroken  love 
had  revealed  a  charm  which  was  never  there  to  see 
before.  She  was  dressed  for  walking,  and,  as  she  met 
me,  said,  — 

"  Time  for  constitutional,  Mr.  Millionnaire." 

So  we  walked  again,  quite  up  town,  almost  to  the 
region  of  pig-pens  and  cabbage-gardens  which  is  now 
the  Central  Park.  And  after  just  the  first  gush  of  my 
enthusiasm,  Fausta  said,  very  seriously :  — 

"  I  must  teach  you  to  be  grave.  You  do  not  know 
whom  you  are  asking  to  be  your  wife.  Excepting  Mrs. 
Mason,  No.  27  Thirty -fourth  Street,  sir,  there  is  no  one 
in  the  world  who  is  of  kin  to  me,  and  she  does  not  care 
for  me  one  straw,  Felix,"  she  said,  almost  sadly  now. 
"You  call  yourself  'Child  of  the  Public.'  I  started 
when  you  first  said  so,  for  that  is  just  what  I  am. 

"  I  am  twenty-two  years  old.  My  father  died  before 
I  was  born.  My  mother,  a  poor  woman,  disliked  by  his 
relatives  and  avoided  by  them,  went  to  live  in  Hoboken 
over  there,  with  me.  How  she  lived,  God  knows !  but 
it  happened  that  of  a  strange  death  she  died,  I  in  her 
arms." 

After  a  pause,  the  poor  girl  went  on :  — 

"  There  was  a  great  military  review,  an  encampment. 
She  was  tempted  out  to  see  it.  Of  a  sudden,  by  some 
mistake,  a  ramrod  was  fired  from  a  careless  soldier's  gun, 
and  it  pierced  her  through  the  heart.  I  tell  you,  Felix, 
it  pinned  my  baby  frock  into  the  wound,  so  that  they 
could  not  part  me  from  her  till  it  was  cut  away. 

"  Of  course  every  one  was  filled  with  horror.  No- 
body claimed  poor  me,  the  baby.  But  the  battalion  —  the 


THE   CHILDREN   OF  THE   PUBLIC.          177 

Montgomery  Battalion,  it  was,  which  had,  by  mischance, 
killed  my  mother  —  adopted  me  as  their  child.  I  was 
voted  '  Fille  du  Regiment.'  They  paid  an  assessment 
annually,  which  the  colonel  expended  for  me.  A  kind 
old  woman  nursed  me." 

"  She  was  your  Betsy  Myers,"  interrupted  I. 

"  And  when  I  was  old  enough  I  was  sent  into  Con- 
necticut, to  the  best  of  schools.  This  lasted  till  I  was 
sixteen.  Fortunately  for  me,  perhaps,  the  Montgom- 
ery Battalion  then  dissolved.  I  was  finding  it  hard  to 
answer  the  colonel's  annual  letters.  I  had  my  living 
to  earn,  —  it  was  best  I  should  earn  it.  I  declined  a 
proposal  to  go  out  as  a  missionary.  I  had  no  call.  I 
answered  one  of  Miss  Beecher's  appeals  for  Western 
teachers.  Most  of  my  life  since  has  been  a  school- 
ma'am's.  It  has  had  ups  and  downs.  But  I  have  al- 
ways been  proud  that  the  Public  was  my  godfather ; 
and,  as  you  know,"  she  said,  "  I  have  trusted  the  Public 
well.  I  have  never  been  lonely,  wherever  I  went.  I 
tried  to  make  myself  of  use.  Where  I  was  of  use  I 
found  society.  The  ministers  have  been  kind  to  me. 
I  always  offered  my  services  in  the  Sunday  schools  and 
sewing-rooms.  The  school  committees  have  been  kind 
to  me.  They  are  the  Public's  high  chamberlains  for 
poor  girls.  I  have  written  for  the  journals.  I  won  one 
of  Sartain's  hundred-dollar  prizes  —  " 

"  And  I  another,"  interrupted  I. 

"  When  I  was  very  poor,  I  won  the  first  prize  for  an 
essay  on  bad  boys." 

"  And  I  the  second,"  answered  I. 

"  I  think  I  know  one  bad  boy  better  than  he  knows 
8*  L 


178  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

himself,"  said  she.  But  she  went  on.  "  I  watched  with 
this  poor  Miss  Stilliugfleet  the  night  she  died.  This 
absurd  '  distribution '  had  got  hold  of  her,  and  she  would 
not  be  satisfied  till  she  had  transferred  that  strange 
ticket,  No.  2,973,  to  me,  writing  the  indorsement  which 
you  have  heard.  I  had  had  a  longing  to  visit  New 
York  and  Hoboken  again.  This  ticket  seemed  to  me  to 
beckon  me.  I  had  money  enough  to  come,  if  I  would 
come  cheaply.  I  wrote  to  my  father's  business  partner, 
and  enclosed  a  note  to  his  only  sister.  She  is  Mrs. 
Mason.  She  asked  me,  coldly  enough,  to  her  house. 
Old  Mr.  Grills  always  liked  me,  —  he  offered  me  escort 
and  passage  as  far  as  Troy  or  Albany.  I  accepted  his 
proposal,  and  you  know  the  rest." 

When  I  told  Fausta  my  story,  she  declared  I  made 
it  up  as  I  went  along.  When  she  believed  it,  —  as  she 
does  believe  it  now,  —  she  agreed  with  me  in  declaring 
that  it  was  not  fit  that  two  people  thus  joined  should 
ever  be  parted.  Nor  have  we  been,  ever! 

She  made  a  hurried  visit  at  Mrs.  Mason's.  She  pre- 
pared there  for  her  wedding.  On  the  1st  of  November 
we  went  into  that  same  church  which  was  our  first  home 
in  New  York;  and  that  dear  old  raven-man  made  us 
one. 


THE   RIVAL  DREAMERS. 

BY  JOHN  BAOTM. 

j|R.  WASHINGTON  IRVING  has  already  given 
to  the  public  a  version  of  an  American  legend, 
which,  in  a  principal  feature,  bears  some  like- 
ness to  the  following  transcript  of  a  popular  Irish  one. 
It  may,  however,  be  interesting  to  show  this  very  coin- 
cidence between  the  descendants  of  a  Dutch  transatlantic 
colony  and  the  native  peasantry  of  Ireland,  in  the  super- 
stitions annals  of  both.  Our  tale,  moreover,  will  be 
found  original  in  all  its  circumstances,  that  alluded  to 
only  excepted. 

Shamus  Dempsey  returned  a  silent,  plodding,  sorrowful 
man,  though  a  young  one,  to  his  poor  home,  after  seeing 
laid  in  the  grave  his  aged,  decrepit  father.  The  last  rays 
of  the  setting  sun  were  glorious,  shooting  through  the 
folds  of  their  pavilion  of"  scarlet  clouds ;  the  last  song  of 
the  thrush,  chanted  from  the  bough  nearest  to  his  nest, 
was  gladdening ;  the  abundant  though  but  half-matured 
crops  around  breathed  of  hope  for  the  future.  But 
Shamus's  bosom  was  covered  with  the  darkness  that 
inward  sunshine  alone  can  illumine.  The  chord  that 


180  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

should  respond  to  song  and  melody  had  snapped  in  it ; 
for  him  the  softly  undulating  fields  of  light-green  wheat, 
or  the  silken  surfaced  patches  of  barley,  made  a  promise 
in  vain.  He  was  poor,  penniless,  friendless,  and  yet 
groaning  under  responsibilities :  worn  out  by  past  and 
present  suffering,  and  without  a  consoling  prospect. 
His  father's  corpse  had  been  just  buried  by  a  subscrip- 
tion among  his  neighbors,  collected  in  an  old  glove,  a 
penny  or  a  half-penny  from  each,  by  the  most  active  of 
the  humble  community  to  whom  his  sad  state  was  a 
subject  of  pity.  In  the  wretched  shed  which  he  called 
"  home,"  a  young  wife  lay  on  a  truss  of  straw,  listening 
to  the  hungry  cries  of  two  little  children,  and  awaiting 
her  hour  to  become  the  weeping  mother  of  a  third. 
And  the  recollection  that  but  for  an  act  of  domestic 
treachery  experienced  by  his  father  and  himself,  both 
would  have  been  comfortabre  and  respectable  in  the 
world,  aggravated  the  bitterness  of  the  feeling  in  which 
Shamus  contemplated  this  lot.  He  could  himself  faintly 
call  to  mind  a  time  of  early  childhood,  when  he  lived 
with  his  parents  in  a  roomy  house,  eating  and  sleeping 
and  dressing  well,  and  surrounded  by  servants  and  work- 
men ;  he  further  remembered  that  a  day  of  great  afflic- 
tion came,  upon  which  strange  and  rude  persons  forced 
their  way  into  the  house  ;  and,  for  some  cause  his  infant 
observation  did  not  reach,  father,  servants,  and  workmen 
(his  mother  had  just  died)  were  all  turned  out  upon  the 
road,  and  doomed  to  seek  the  shelter  of  a  mean  roof. 
But  his  father's  discourse,  since  he  gamed  the  years  of 
manhood,  supplied  Shamus  with  an  explanation  of  all 
these  circumstance,  as  follows  :  — 


THE   RIVAL   DREAMERS.  181 

Old  Dempsey  had  been  the  youngest  son  of  a  large 
farmer,  who  divided  his  lands  between  two  elder  children, 
and  destined  Shamus's  father  to  the  Church,  sending  him 
abroad  for  education,  and,  during  its  course,  supplying 
him  with  liberal  allowances.  Upon  the  eve  of  ordina- 
tion the  young  student  returned  home  to  visit  his  friends ; 
was  much  noticed  by  neighboring  small  gentry  of  each 
religion ;  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  opposite  persuasion 
from  his  met  a  sister  of  the  proprietor,  who  had  a  for- 
tune in  her  own  right ;  abandoned  his  clerical  views  for 
her  smiles  ;  eloped  with  her ;  married  her  privately ;  in- 
curred thereby  the  irremovable  hostility  of  his  own  fam- 
ily ;  but,  after  a  short  time,  was  received,  along  with  his 
wife,  by  his  generous  brother-in-law,  under  whose  guid- 
ance both  became  reputably  settled  in  the  house  to  which 
'Shamus's  early  recollections  pointed,  and  where,  till  he 
was  about  six  years  old,  he  passed  indeed  a  happy  child- 
hood. 

But,  a  little  previous  to  this  time,  his  mother's  good 
brother  died  unmarried,  and  was  succeeded  by  another  of 
her  brothers,  who  had  unsuccessfully  spent  half  his  life 
as  a  lawyer  in  Dublin,  and  who,  inheriting  little  of  his 
predecessor's  amiable  character,  soon  showed  himself  a 
foe  to  her  and  her  husband,  professedly  on  account  of 
her  marriage  with  a  Roman  Catholic.  He  did  not  appear 
to  their  visit,  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  their  neighbor- 
hood, and  he  never  condescended  to  return  it.  The  afflic- 
tion experienced  by  his  sensitive  sister,  from  his  conduct, 
entailed  upon  her  a  premature  accouchement,  in  which, 
giving  birth  to  a  lifeless  babe,  she  unexpectedly  died. 
The  event  was  matt«r  of  triumph  rather  than  of  sorrow 


182  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

to  her  unnatural  brother.  For,  in  the  first  place,  totally 
unguarded  against  the  sudden  result,  she  had  died  intes- 
tate ;  in  the  next  place,  he  discovered  that  her  private 
marriage  had  been  celebrated  by  a  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
consequently  could  not,  according  to  law,  hold  good ;  and 
again,  could  not  give  to  her  nominal  husband  any  right 
to  her  property,  upon  which  both  had  hitherto  lived,  and 
which  was  now  the  sole  means  of  existence  to  Shamus's 
father. 

The  lawyer  speedily  set  to  work  upon  these  points,  and 
with  little  difficulty  succeeded  in  supplying  for  Shamus's 
recollections  a  day  of  trouble,  already  noticed.  In  fact, 
his  father  and  he,  now  without  a  shilling,  took  refuge  in 
a  distant  cabin,  where,  by  the  sweat  of  his  parent's  brow, 
as  a  laborer  in  the  fields,  the  ill-fated  hero  of  this  story 
was  scantily  fed  and  clothed,  until  maturer  years  enabled 
him  to  relieve  the  old  man's  hand  of  the  spade  and  sickle, 
and  in  turn  labor  for  their  common  wants. 

Shamus,  becoming  a  little  prosperous  in  the  world, 
rented  a  few  acres  adjacent  to  his  cabin  and  —  married. 
The  increase  of  his  fields  did  not  quite  keep  pace  with 
the  increase  of  his  cares,  in  the  persons  of  new-comers, 
for  whose  well-being  he  was  bound  to  provide.  His  ray 
of  success  in  life  soon  became  overclouded,  by  the  calls 
of  the  landlord  and  the  tithe-proctor.  In  truth,  three 
years  after  his  marriage,  he  received  a  notice  which  it 
were  vain  to  oppose,  to  quit  both  his  farm  and  his  cabin, 
and  leave  his  few  articles  of  furniture  behind. 

At  this  juncture  his  father  was  bedridden,  and  his  wife 
advanced  in  her  third  pregnancy.  He  put  on  his  hat, 
walked  to  ths  door,  fixed  bis  eyes  upon  the  ruins  of  an 


THE   RIVAL   DBEAMEB.S.  183 

old  abbey  which  stood  on  the  slope  of  an  opposite  hill, 
and  formed  his  plan  for  present  measures.  By  the  next 
evening  he  had  constructed  a  wattled  shed,  covered  with 
rushes  and  leaves,  against  a  gable  in  the  interior  of  the 
ruin.  Clearing  away  the  nettles  and  other  rank  weeds 
enclosed  by  his  new  house,  he  discovered  a  long  slab  on 
which  was  carved  a  cross  and  letters  illegible  to  his  eye ; 
this  he  made  his  hearthstone.  To  furnish  the  abode,  he 
fetched  two  large  stones,  as  seats  for  his  wife  and  himself, 
shook  straw  in  either  corner,  and  laid  in  a  bundle  of 
twigs.  Then  he  went  to  the  cabin  that  was  no  longer 
his,  sent  on  his  wife  and  two  children  to  the  abbey,  fol- 
lowed with  his  father  on  his  back,  and  laid  him  upon  one 
of  the  straw  couches.  Two  days  afterwards  the  old  man 
was  a  corpse.  From  his  pauper  funeral  we  now  see  Sha- 
mus  returning,  and  to  such  a  home  does  he  bend  his  heavy 
steps. 

If  to  know  that  the  enemy  of  his  father  and  mother 
did  not  thrive  on  the  spoils  of  his  oppression  could  have 
yielded  Shamus  any  consolation  in  his  lot,  he  had  long 
ago  become  aware  of  circumstances  calculated  to  give  this 
negative  comfort.  His  maternal  uncle  enjoyed,  indeed, 
his  newly  acquired  property  only  a  few  years  after  it  came 
into  his  possession.  Partly  on  account  of  his  cruelty  to 
his  relations,  partly  from  a  meanness  and  vulgarity  of 
character,  which  soon  displayed  itself  in  his  novel  situa- 
tion, and  which,  it  was  believed,  had  previously  kept  him 
in  the  lowest  walks  of  his  profession  as  a  Dublin  attorney, 
he  found  himself  neglected  and  shunned  by  the  gentry 
of  his  neighborhood.  To  grow  richer  than  any  one  who 
thus  insulted  him,  to  blazon  abroad  reports  of  his  wealth. 


184  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

and  to  watch  opportunities  of  using  it  to  their  iujury, 
became  the  means  of  revenge  adopted  by  the  parvenu. 
His  legitimate  income  not  promising  a  rapid  accomplish- 
ment of  this  plan,  he  ventured,  using  precautions  that 
seemingly  set  suspicion  at  defiance,  to  engage  in  smug- 
gling adventures  on  a  large  scale,  for  which  his  proximity 
to  the  coast  afforded  a  local  opportunity.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  his  pettifogging  cleverness,  the  ex-attorney  was 
detected,  however,  in  his  illegal  traffic,  and  fined  to  an 
amount  which  swept  away  half  his  real  property.  Driven 
to  desperation  by  the  publicity  of  his  failure,  as  well  as 
by  the  failure  itself,  he  tried  another  grand  effort  to  re- 
trieve his  fortune ;  was  again  surprised  by  the  revenue 
officers ;  in  a  personal  struggle  with  them,  at  the  head  of 
his  band,  killed  one  of  their  body ;  immediately  absconded 
from  Ireland;  for  the  last  twenty  years  had  not  been 
authentically  heard  of;  but,  it  was  believed,  lived  under 
an  assumed  name  in  London,  deriving  an  obscure  exist- 
ence from  some  mean  pursuit,  of  which  the  very  nature 
enabled  him  to  gratify  propensities  to  drunkenness  and 
other  vices,  learned  during  his  first  career  in  life. 

All  this  Shamus  knew,  though  only  from  report,  inas- 
much as  his  uncle  had  exiled  himself  while  he  was  yet  a 
child,  and  without  previously  having  become  known  to 
the  eyes  of  the  nephew  he  had  so  much  injured.  But  if 
eJhamus  occasionally  drew  a  bitter  and  almost  savage 
gratification  from  the  downfall  of  his  inhuman  persecutor, 
AO  recurrence  to  the  past  could  alleviate  the  misery  of  his 
present  situation.  He  passed  under  one  of  the  capacious 
open  arches  of  the  old  abbey,  and  then  entered  his  squalid 
shed  reared  against  its  wall,  his  heart  as  shattered  and  as 


THE    EIVAL   DREAMERS.  185 

trodden  down  as  the  ruins  around  him.  No  words  of 
greeting  ensued  between  him  and  his  equally  hopeless 
wife,  as  she  sat  on  the  straw  of  her  bed,  rocking  to  sleep, 
with  feeble  and  mournful  cries,  her  youngest  infant.  He 
silently  lighted  a  fire  of  withered  twigs  on  his  ready -fur- 
nished hearthstone ;  put  to  roast  among  their  embers  a 
few  potatoes  which  he  had  begged  during  the  day ;  di- 
vided them  between  her  and  her  crying  children ;  and  as 
the  moon,  rising  high  in  the  heavens,  warned  him  that 
night  asserted  her  full  empire  over  the  departed  day,  Sha- 
mus  sank  down  upon  the  couch  from  which  his  father's 
mortal  remains  had  lately  been  borne,  supperless  himself, 
and  dinnerless,  too,  but  not  hungry  ;  at  least  not  con- 
scious or  recollecting  that  he  was. 

His  wife  and  little  ones  soon  slept  soundly,  but  Shamus 
lay  for  hours  inaccessible  to  nature's  claims  for  sleep  as 
well  as  for  food.  From  where  he  lay  he  could  see,  through 
the  open  front  of  his  shed,  out  into  the  ruins  abroad. 
After  much  abstraction  in  his  own  thoughts,  the  silence, 
the  extent,  and  the  peculiar  desolation  of  the  scene,  almost 
spiritualized  by  the  magic  effect  of  alternate  moonshine 
and  darkness,  of  objects  and  of  their  parts,  at  last  di- 
verted his  mind,  though  not  to  relieve  it.  He  remembered 
distinctly,  for  the  first  time,  where  he  was, —  an  intruder 
among  the  dwellings  of  the  dead ;  he  called  to  mind,  too, 
that  the  present  was  their  hour  for  revealing  themselves 
among  the  remote  loneliness  and  obscurity  of  their  crum- 
bling and  intricate  abode.  As  his  eye  fixed  upon  a  distant 
stream  of  cold  light  or  of  blank  shadow,  either  the  waver- 
ing of  some  feathery  herbage  from  the  walls,  or  the  flitting 
of  some  night  bird  over  the  roofless  aisle,  made  motion 


186  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

which  went  and  came  during  the  instant  of  his  alarmed 
start,  or  else  some  disembodied  sleeper  around  had  chal- 
lenged and  evaded  his  vision  so  rapidly  as  to  baffle  even 
the  accompaniment  of  thought.  Shamus  would;  however, 
recur,  during  these  entrancing  aberrations,  to  his  more 
real  causes  for  terror ;  and  he  knew  not,  and  to  this  day 
cannot  distinctly  tell,  whether  he  waked  or  slept,  when 
a  new  circumstance  absorbed  his  attention.  The  moon 
struck  fully,  under  his  propped  roof,  upon  the  carved  slab 
he  had  appropriated  as  a  hearthstone,  and  turning  his  eye 
to  the  spot,  he  saw  the  semblance  of  a  man  advanced  in 
years,  though  not  very  old,  standing  motionless,  and  very 
steadfastly  regarding  him ;  the  still  face  of  the  figure  shone 
like  marble  in  the  nightbeam,  without  giving  any  idea  of 
the  solidity  of  that  material ;  the  long  and  deep  shadows 
thrown  by  the  forehead  over  the  eyes  left  those  unusually 
expressive  features  vague  and  uncertain.  Upon  the  head 
was  a  close-fitting  black  cap,  the  dress  was  a  loose-sleeved, 
plaited  garment  of  white,  descending  to  the  ground,  and 
faced  and  otherwise  checkered  with  black,  and  girded 
round  the  loins  ;  exactly  the  costume  which  Shamus  had 
often  studied  in  a  little  framed  and  glazed  print,  hung  up 
in  the  sacristry  of  the  humble  chapel  recently  built  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  ruin  by  a  few  descendants  of  the 
great  religious  fraternity  to  whom,  in  its  day  of  pride,  the 
abbey  had  belonged.  As  he  returned  very  inquisitively, 
though,  as  he  avers,  not  now  in  alarm,  the  fixed  gaze  of 
his  midnight  visitor,  a  voice  reached  him,  and  he  heard 
these  strange  words :  — 

"  Shamus  Dempsey,  go  to  London  Bridge,  and  you  will 
be  a  rich  man." 


THE   RIVAL  DREAMERS.  187 

"  How  will  that  come  about,  your  reverence  ?  "  cried 
Shamus,  jumping  up  from  the  straw. 

But  the  figure  was  gone ;  and  stumbling  among  the 
black  embers  on  the  remarkable  place  where  it  had  stood, 
he  fell  prostrate,  experiencing  a  change  of  sensation  and 
of  observance  of  objects  around,  which  might  be  explained 
by  supposing  a  transition  from  a  sleeping  to  a  waking  state 
of  mind. 

The  rest  of  the  night  he  slept  little,  thinking  of  the 
advice  he  had  received,  and  of  the  mysterious  personage 
who  gave  it.  But  he  resolved  to  say  nothing  about  his 
vision,  particularly  to  his  wife,  lest,  in  her  present  state 
of  health,  the  frightful  story  might  distress  her ;  and,  as 
to  his  own  conduct  respecting  it,  he  determined  to  be 
guided  by  the  future,  —  in  fact,  he  would  wait  to  see  if 
-his  counsellor  came  again.  He  did  come  again,  appearing 
in  the  same  spot  at  the  same  hour  of  the  night,  and  wear- 
ing the  same  dress,  though  not  the  same  expression  of 
feature ;  for  the  shadowy  brows  now  slightly  frowned, 
and  a  little  severity  mingled  with  the  former  steadfast- 
ness of  look. 

"  Shamus  Dempsey,  why  have  you  not  gone  to  London 
Bridge,  and  your  wife  so  near  the  time  when  she  will 
want  what  you  are  to  get  by  going  there  ?  Remember, 
this  is  my  second  warning." 

"  Musha,  your  reverence,  an'  what  am  I  to  do  on 
Lunnon  Bridge  ?  " 

Again  he  rose  to  approach  the  figure ;  again  it  eluded 
him.  Again  a  change  occurred  in  the  quality  of  the  in- 
terest with  which  he  regarded  the  admonition  of  his  vis- 
itor. Again  he  passed  a  day  of  doubt  as  to  the  propriety 


188  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

of  undertaking  what  seemed  to  him  little  less  than  a  jour, 
ney  to  the  world's  end,  without  a  penny  iu  his  pocket, 
and  upon  the  eve  of  his  wife's  accouchement,  merely  in 
obedience  to  a  recommendation  which,  according  to  his 
creed,  was  not  yet  sufficiently  strongly  given,  even  were 
it  under  any  circumstances  to  be  adopted.  For  Shamus 
had  often  heard,  and  firmly  believed,  that  a  dream  or  a 
vision,  instructing  one  how  to  procure  riches,  ought  to 
be  experienced  three  times  before  it  became  entitled  to 
attention. 

He  lay  down,  however,  half  hoping  that  his  vision 
might  thus  recommend  itself  to  his  notice.  It  did  so. 

"  Shamus  Dempsey,"  said  the  figure,  looking  more 
angry  than  ever,  "  you  have  not  yet  gone  to  London 
Bridge,  although  I  hear  your  wife  crying  out  to  bid  you 
go.  And,  remember,  this  is  my  third  warning." 

"Why,  then,  tundher-an-ouns,  your  reverence,  just 
stop  and  tell  me  —  " 

Ere  he  could  utter  another  word  the  holy  visitant 
disappeared,  in  a  real  passion  at  Shamus's  qualified 
curse ;  and  at  the  same  moment  his  confused  senses 
recognized  the  voice  of  his  wife,  sending  up  from  her 
straw  pallet  the  cries  that  betoken  a  mother's  distant 
travail.  Exchanging  a  few  words  with  her,  he  hurried 
away,  professedly  to  call  up,  at  her  cabin  window,  an 
old  crone  who  sometimes  attended  the  very  poorest 
women  in  Nance  Dempsey's  situation. 

"  Hurry  to  her,  Noreen,  acuishla,  and  do  the  best  it 's 
the  will  of  God  to  let  you  do.  And  tell  her  from  me, 
Noreen  —  "  He  stopped,  drawing  in  his  lip,  and  clutch- 
ing his  cudgel  hard. 


THE   RIVAL   DREAMERS.  189 

"  Skamus,  what  ails  you,  avick  ?  "  asked  old  Noreen ; 
"  what  ails  you,  to  make  the  tears  run  down  in  the  gray 
«'  the  morning  ?  " 

"Tell  her  from  me,"  continued  Shamus,  "that  it's 
from  the  bottom  o'  the  heart  I  '11  pray,  morning  and 
evening,  and  fresh  and  fasting,  maybe,  to  give  her  a 
good  time  of  it ;  and  to  show  her  a  face  on  the  poor  child 
that 's  coming,  likelier  than  the  two  that  God  sent  afore 
it.  And  that  I  '11  be  thinking  o'  picturing  it  to  my  own 
mind,  though  I  '11  never  see  it  far  away." 

"  Musha,  Shamus,  what  are  you  speaking  of  ?  " 

"  No  matter,  Noreen,  only  God  be  wid  you,  and  wid 
her,  and  wid  the  weenocks  ;  and  tell  her  what  I  bid  you. 
More-be-token,  tell  her  that  poor  Shamus  quits  her  in 
her  throuble,  with  more  love  from  the  heart  out  than  he 
had  for  her  the  first  day  we  came  together ;  and  I  '11 
come  back  to  her  at  any  rate,  sooner  or  later,  richer  or 
poorer,  or  as  bare  as  I  went ;  and  maybe  not  so  bare 
either.  But  God  only  knows.  The  top  o'  the  morning 
to  you,  Noreen,  and  don't  let  her  want  the  mouthful  o' 
praties  while  I  'm  on  my  thravels.  For  this,"  —  added 
Shamus,  as  he  bounded  off,  to  the  consternation  of  old 
Noreen,  — "  this  is  the  very  morning  and  the  very 
minute  that,  if  I  mind  the  dhrame  at  all  at  all,  I  ought 
to  mind  it;  ay,  without  ever  turning  back  to  get  a 
look  from  her,  that  'ud  kill  the  heart  in  my  body  en- 
tirely." 

Without  much  previous  knowledge  of  the  road  he  was 
to  take,  Shamus  walked  and  begged  his  way  along  the 
coast  to  the  town  where  he  might  hope  to  embark  for 
England.  Here,  the  captain  of  a  merchantman  agreed 


190  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

to  let  him  work  his  passage  to  Bristol,  whence  he  again 
walked  and  begged  into  London. 

Without  taking  rest  or  food,  Shamus  proceeded  to 
London  Bridge,  often  put  out  of  his  course  by  wrong 
directions,  and  as  often  by  forgetting  and  misconceiving 
true  ones.  It  was  with  old  London  Bridge  that  Shamus 
had  to  do  (not  the  old  one  last  pulled  down,  but  its  more 
reverend  predecessor),  which,  at  that  time,  was  lined  at 
either  side  by  quaintly  fashioned  houses,  mostly  occupied 
by  shop-keepers,  so  that  the  space  between  presented, 
perhaps,  the  greatest  thoroughfare  then  known  in  the 
Queen  of  Cities.  And  at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, barefooted,  ragged,  fevered,  and  agitated,  Shamus 
mingled  with  the  turbid  human  stream,  that  roared  and 
chafed  over  the,  as  restless  and  as  evanescent,  stream 
which  buffeted  the  arches  of  old  London  Bridge.  In  a 
situation  so  novel  to  him,  so  much  more  extraordinary 
in  the  reality  than  his  anticipation  could  have  fancied, 
the  poor  and  friendless  stranger  felt  overwhelmed.  A 
sense  of  forlornness,  of  insignificance,  and  of  terror 
seized  upon  his  faculties.  From  the  stare,  or  the  sneers, 
or  the  jostle  of  the  iron-nerved  crowd,  he  shrank  with 
glances  of  wild  timidity,  and  with  a  heart  as  wildly 
timid  as  were  his  looks.  For  some  time  he  stood  or 
staggered  about,  unable  to  collect  his  thoughts,  or  to 
bring  to  mind  what  was  his  business  there.  But  when 
Shamus  became  able  to  refer  to  the  motive  of  his  pau- 
per journey,  from  his  native  solitudes  into  the  thick  of 
such  a  scene,  it  was  no  wonder  that  the  zeal  of  super- 
stition totally  subsided  amid  the  astounding  truths 
he  witnessed.  In  fact,  the  bewildered  simpleton  now 


THE    RIVAL   DREAMERS.  191 

regarded  his  dream  as  the  merest  chimera.  Hastily 
escaping  from  the  thoroughfare,  he  sought  out  some 
•wretched  place  of  repose  suited  to  his  wretched  condi- 
tion, and  there  moaned  himself  asleep,  in  self-accusations 
at  the  thought  of  poor  Nance  at  home,  and  in  utter 
despair  of  all  his  future  prospects. 

At  daybreak  the  next  morning  he  awoke,  a  little  less 
agitated,  but  still  with  no  hope.  He  was  able,  however, 
to  resolve  upon  the  best  course  of  conduct  now  left  open 
to  him  ;  and  he  arranged  immediately  to  retrace  his  steps 
to  Ireland,  as  soon  as  he  should  have  begged  sufficient 
alms  to  speed  him  a  mile  on  the  road.  With  this  intent 
he  hastily  issued  forth,  preferring  to  challenge  the  notice 
of  chance  passengers,  even  at  the  early  hour  of  dawn, 
than  to  venture  again,  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  among 
the  dreaded  crowds  of  the  vast  city.  Very  few,  indeed, 
were  the  passers-by  whom  Shamus  met  during  his  strag- 
gling and  stealthy  walk  through  the  streets,  and  those 
of  a  description  little  able  or  willing  to  afford  a  half- 
penny to  his  humbled,  whining  suit,  and  to  his  spasmed 
lip  and  watery  eye.  In  what  direction  he  went  Shamus 
did  not  know;  but  at  last  he  found  himself  entering 
upon  the  scene  of  his  yesterday's  terror.  Now,  how- 
ever, it  presented  nothing  to  renew  its  former  impres- 
sion. The  shops  at  the  sides  of  the  bridge  were  closed, 
and  the  occasional  stragglers  of  either  sex  who  came 
along  inspired  Shamus,  little  as  he  knew  of  a  great  city, 
with  aversion  rather  than  with  dread.  In  the  quietness 
and  security  of  his  present  position,  Shamus  was  both 
courageous  and  weak  enough  again  to  summon  up  his 
dream. 


192  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

"  Come,"  he  said,  "  since  I  am  on  Lunnon  Bridge, 
I  '11  walk  over  every  stone  of  it,  and  see  what  good  that 
will  do." 

He  valiantly  gained  the  far  end.  Here  one  house,  of 
all  that  stood  upon  the  bridge,  began  to  be  opened ;  it 
was  a  public  house,  and,  by  a  sidelong  glance  as  he 
passed,  Shamus  thought  that,  in  the  person  of  a  red- 
cheeked,  red-nosed,  sunk-eyed,  elderly  man,  who  took 
down  the  window-shutters,  he  recognized  the  proprietor. 
This  person  looked  at  Shamus,  in  return,  with  peculiar 
scrutiny.  The  wanderer  liked  neither  his  regards  nor 
the  expression  of  his  countenance,  and  quickened  his 
steps  onward  until  he  cleared  the  bridge. 

"  But  I  '11  walk  it  over  at  the  other  side,  now,"  he 
bethought,  after  allowing  the  publican  time  to  finish 
opening  his  house,  and  retire  out  of  view. 

But,  repassing  the  house,  the  man  still  appeared,  lean- 
ing against  his  door-jamb,  and  as  if  waiting  for  Shamus's 
return,  whom,  upon  this  second  occasion,  he  eyed  more 
attentively  than  before. 

"  Sorrow 's  in  him,"  thought  Shamus,  "  have  I  two 
heads  on  me,  that  I  'm  such  a  sight  to  him  ?  But  who 
cares  about  his  pair  of  ferret-eyes  ?  I  '11  thrudge  down 
the  middle  stone  of  it,  at  any  rate !  " 

Accordingly  he  again  walked  towards  the  public  house, 
keeping  the  middle  of  the  bridge. 

"  Good  morrow,  friend,"  said  the  publican,  as  Shamus 
a  third  time  passed  his  door. 

"  Sarvant  kindly,  sir,"  answered  Sbamus,  respectfully 
pulling  down  the  brim  of  his  hat,  and  increasing  his 
pace. 


THE    RIVAL   DREAMERS.  193 

"  An  early  hour  you  choose  for  a  morning  walk,"  con- 
tinued his  new  acquaintance. 

"  Brave  and  early,  faix,  sir,"  said  Shamus,  still  hurry- 
ing off. 

"  Stop  a  bit,"  resumed  the  publican.  Shamus  stood 
still.  "  I  see  you  're  a  countryman  of  mine,  —  an  Irish- 
man ;  I  'd  know  one  of  you  at  a  look,  though  I  'm  a 
long  time  out  of  the  country.  And  you  're  not  very  well 
off  on  London  Bridge  this  morning,  either." 

"  No,  indeed,  sir,"  replied  Shamus,  beginning  to 
doubt  his  skill  hi  physiognomy,  at  the  stranger's  kind 
address ;  "  but  as  badly  off  as  a  body  'ud  wish  to  be." 

"  Come  over  to  look  for  the  work  ?  " 

"  Nien,  sir ;  but  come  out  this  morning  to  beg  a  ha'- 
penny, to  send  me  a  bit  of  the  road  home." 

"  Well,  here  's  a  silver  sixpence  without  asking.  And 
you  'd  better  sit  on  the  bench  by  the  door  here,  and  eat 
a  crust  and  a  cut  of  cheese,  and  drink  a  drop  of  good 
ale,  to  break  your  fast." 

With  profuse  thanks,  Shamus  accepted  this  kind  invi- 
tation, blaming  himself  at  heart  for  having  allowed  his 
opinion  of  the  charitable  publican  to  be  guided  by  the 
expression  of  the  man's  features.  "  Handsome  is  that 
handsome  does,"  was  Shamus's  self-correcting  reflec- 
tion. 

While  eating  his  bread  and  cheese,  and  drinking  his 
strong  ale,  they  conversed  freely  together,  and  Shamus's 
heart  opened  more  and  more  to  his  benefactor.  The 
publican  repeatedly  asked  him  what  had  brought  him  to 
London ;  and  though  half  out  of  prudence,  and  half  out 
of  shame,  the  dreamer  at  first  evaded  the  question,  he 

VOL.  XII.  9  M 


194  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

felt  it  at  last  impossible  to  refuse  a  candid  answer  to  hi« 
generous  friend. 

"  Why,  then,  sir,  only  I  am  such  a  big  fool  for  telling 
it  to  you,  it 's  what  brought  me  to  Lunnon  Bridge  was  a 
quare  dhrame  I  had  at  home  in  Ireland,  that  tould  me 
just  to  come  here,  and  I  'd  find  a  pot  of  goold."  For 
such  was  the  interpretation  given  by  Shamus  to  the 
vague  admonition  of  his  visionary  counsellor. 

His  companion  burst  into  a  loud  laugh,  saying,  after 
it,— 

"  Pho,  pho,  man,  don't  be  so  silly  as  to  put  faith  in 
nonsensical  dreams  of  that  kind.  Many  a  one  like  it  I 
have  had,  if  I  would  bother  my  head  with  them.  Why, 
within  the  last  ten  days,  while  you  were  dreaming  of 
finding  a  pot  of  gold  on  London  Bridge,  I  was  dreaming 
of  finding  a  pot  of  gold  in  Ireland." 

"  Ullaloo,  and  were  you,  sir  ?  "  asked  Shamus,  laying 
down  his  empty  pint. 

"  Ay,  indeed :  night  after  night,  an  old  friar  with  a 
pale  face,  and  dressed  all  in  white  and  black,  and  a 
black  skull-cap  on  his  head,  came  to  me  in  a  dream,  and 
bid  me  go  to  Ireland,  to  a  certain  spot  in  a  certain 
county  that  I  know  very  well,  and  under  the  slab  of  his 
tomb,  that  has  a  cross  and  some  old  Homish  letters  on 
it,  in  an  old  abbey  I  often  saw  before  now,  I  'd  find  a 
treasure  that  would  make  me  a  rich  man  all  the  days  of 
my  life." 

"  Musha,  sir,"  asked  Shamus,  scarce  able  prudently  to 
control  his  agitation,  "  and  did  he  tell  you  that  the  treas- 
ure lay  buried  there  ever  so  long  under  the  open  sky  and 
the  ould  walls  ?  " 


THE   RIVAL   DREAMERS.  195 

"  No  ;  but  he  told  me  I  was  to  find  the  slab  covered 
in  by  a  shed,  that  a  poor  man  had  lately  built  inside  the 
abbey  for  himself  and  his  family." 

"  Whoo,  by  the  powers ! "  shouted  Shamus,  at  last 
thrown  off  his  guard  by  the  surpassing  joy  derived  from 
this  intelligence,  as  well  as  by  the  effects  of  the  ale ;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  he  jumped  up,  cutting  a  caper  with  hi* 
legs,  and  flourishing  his  shillelagh. 

"Why,  what's  the  matter  with  you?"  asked  his 
friend,  glancing  at  him  a  frowning  and  misgiving  look. 

"  We  ax  pardon,  sir."  Shamus  rallied  his  prudence. 
"An'  sure  sorrow  a  thing  is  the  matter  wid  me,  only 
the  dhrop,  I  believe,  made  me  do  it,  as  it  ever  and  al- 
ways does,  good  luck  to  it  for  the  same.  An'  is  n't  what 
we  were  spaking  about  the  biggest  raumaush*  undher 
the  sun,  sir  ?  Only  it 's  the  laste  bit  in  the  world  quare 
to  me  how  you  'd  have  the  dhrame  about  your  own 
country,  that  you  did  n't  see  for  so  many  years,  sir,  — 
for  twenty  long  years,  I  think  you  said,  sir  ? "  Sha- 
mus had  now  a  new  object  in  putting  his  sly  ques- 
tion. 

"  If  I  said  so,  I  forgot,"  answered  the  publican,  his 
suspicions  of  Shamus  at  an  end.  "But  it  is  about 
twenty  years,  indeed,  since  I  left  Ireland." 

"  And  by  your  speech,  sir,  and  your  dacency,  I  '11  en- 
gage you  were  in  a  good  way  in  the  poor  place,  afore 
you  left  it?" 

"You  guess  correctly,  friend."  (The  publican  gave 
way  to  vanity.)  "  Before  misfortunes  came  over  me,  I 

*  Nonsense. 


196  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

possessed,  along  with  a  good  hundred  acres  besides,  the 
very  ground  that  the  old  ruin  I  saw  in  the  foolish  dream 
I  told  you  stands  upon." 

"An'  so  did  my  curse-o'-God's  uncle,"  thought  Sha- 
mus,  his  heart's  blood  beginning  to  boil,  though,  with  a 
great  effort  he  kept  himself  seemingly  cool.  "  And  this 
is  the  man  foment  me,  if  he  answers  another  word  I  '11 
ax  him.  Paix,  sir,  and  sure  that  makes  your  dhrame 
quarer  than  ever ;  and  the  ground  the  ould  abbey  is  on, 
sir,  and  the  good  acres  round  it,  did  you  say  they  lay 
somewhere  in  the  poor  county  myself  came  from  ?  " 

"  What  county  is  that,  friend  ?  "  demanded  the  publi- 
can, again  with  a  studious  frown. 

"  The  ould  County  Monaghan,  sure,  sir,"  replied  Sha- 
mus,  very  deliberately. 

"  No,  but  the  county  of  Clare,"  answered  his  com- 
panion. 

"  Was  it  ? "  screamed  Shamus,  again  springing  up. 
The  cherished  hatred  of  twenty  years  imprudently  burst- 
ing out,  his  uncle  lay  stretched  at  his  feet,  after  a  re- 
newed flourish  of  his  cudgel.  "  And  do  you  know  who 
you  are  telling  it  to  this  morning  ?  Did  you  ever  hear 
that  the  sisther  you  kilt  left  a  bit  of  a  gorsoon  behind 
her,  that  one  day  or  other  might  overhear  you  ?  Ay," 
he  continued,  keeping  down  the  struggling  man,  "  it  is 
poor  Shamus  Dempsey  that 's  kneeling  by  you ;  ay,  and 
that  has  more  to  tell  you.  The  shed  built  over  the  old 
friar's  tombstone  was  built  by  the  hands  you  feel  on 
your  throttle,  and  that  tombstone  is  his  hearthstone ; 
and,"  continued  Shamus,  beginning  to  bind  the  pros- 
trate man  with  a  rope,  snatched  from  a  bench  near  them, 


THE    RIVAL   DEEAHEES.  197 

"  while  you  lie  here  awhile,  an'  no  one  to  help  you,  in 
the  cool  of  the  morning,  I  '11  just  take  a  start  of  you  on 
the  road  home,  to  lift  the  flag  and  get  the  threasure; 
and  follow  me  if  you  dare !  You  know  there  's  good 
money  bid  for  your  head  in  Ireland,  —  so  here  goes. 
Yes,  faith  and  wid  this  —  this  to  help  me  on  the  way !  " 
He  snatched  up  a  heavy  purse  which  had  fallen  from 
his  uncle's  pocket  in  the  struggle.  "  And  sure,  there  's 
neither  hurt  nor  harm  in  getting  back  a  little  of  a 
body's  own  from  you.  A  bright  good-morning,  uncle 
dear ! " 

Shamus  dragged  his  manacled  relative  into  the  shop, 
quickly  shut  to  and  locked  the  door,  flung  the  key  over 
the  house  into  the  Thames,  and  the  next  instant  was 
running  at  headlong  speed. 

He  was  not  so  deficient  in  the  calculations  of  common- 
sense  as  to  think  himself  yet  out  of  his  uncle's  power. 
It  appeared,  indeed,  pretty  certain,  that  neither  for  the 
violence  done  to  his  person,  nor  for  the  purse  appropri- 
ated by  his  nephew,  the  outlawed  murderer  would  raise 
a  hue  and  cry  after  one  who,  aware  of  his  identity, 
could  deliver  him  up  to  the  laws  of  his  country.  But 
Shamus  felt  certain  that  it  would  be  a  race  between  him 
and  his  uncle  for  the  treasure  that  lay  under  the  friar's 
tombstone.  His  simple  nature  supplied  no  stronger  mo- 
tive for  a  pursuit  on  the  part  of  a  man  whose  life  now 
lay  in  the  breath  of  his  mouth.  Full  of  his  conviction, 
however,  Shamus  saw  he  had  not  a  moment  to  lose  until 
the  roof  of  his  shed  in  the  old  abbey  again  sheltered  him. 
So,  freely  making  use  of  his  uncle's  guineas,  he  pur- 
chased a  strong  horse  in  the  outskirts  of  London,  and  to 


198  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

the  surprise,  if  not  under  heavy  suspicions  of  the  vender, 
set  off  at  a  gallop  upon  the  road  by  which  he  had  the 
day  before  gained  the  great  metropolis. 

A  ship  was  ready  to  sail  at  Bristol  for  Ireland ;  but,  to 
Shamus's  discomfiture,  she  waited  for  a  wind.  He  got 
aboard,  however,  and  in  the  darksome  and  squalid  hold 
often  knelt  down  and,  with  clasped  hands  and  panting 
breast,  petitioned  Heaven  for  a  favorable  breeze.  But 
from  morning  until  evening  the  wind  remained  as  he  had 
found  it,  and  Shamus  despaired.  His  uncle,  meantime, 
might  have  reached  some  other  port,  and  embarked  for 
their  country.  In  the  depth  of  his  anguish  he  heard  a 
brisk  bustle  upon  deck,  clambered  up  to  investigate  its 
cause,  and  found  the  ship's  sails  already  half  unfurled  to 
a  wind  that  promised  to  bear  him  to  his  native  shores 
by  the  next  morning.  The  last  light  of  day  yet  lin- 
gered in  the  heavens :  he  glanced,  now  under  way,  to 
the  quay  of  Bristol.  A  group  who  had  been  watching 
the  departure  of  the  vessel  turned  round  to  note  the 
approach  to  them  of  a  man  who  ran  furiously  towards 
the  place  where  they  stood,  pointing  after  her,  and  evi- 
dently speaking  with  vehemence,  although  no  words 
reached  Shamus's  ear.  Neither  was  his  eye  sure  of  this 
person's  features  ;  but  his  heart  read  them  distinctly.  A 
boat  shot  from  the  quay ;  the  man  stood  up  in  it,  and 
its  rowers  made  a  signal. 

Shamus  stepped  to  the  gangway,  as  if  preparing  to  hurl 
his  pursuer  into  the  sea.  The  captain  took  a  speaking- 
trumpet,  and  informing  the  boat  that  he  could  not  stop 
an  instant,  advised  her  to  wait  for  another  merchantman, 
which  would  sail  in  an  hour.  And  during  and  after  his 


THE    EIVAL   DREAMERS.  199 

speech  his  vessel  ploughed  cheerily  on,  making  as  much 
way  as  she  was  adapted  to  accomplish. 

Shamus's  bosom  felt  lightened  of  its  immediate  terror, 
but  not  freed  of  apprehension  for  the  future.  The  ship 
that  was  to  sail  in  an  hour  haunted  his  thoughts  :  he  did 
not  leave  the  deck,  and,  although  the  night  proved  very 
dark,  his  anxious  eyes  were  never  turned  from  the  Eng- 
lish coast.  Unusual  fatigue  and  want  of  sleep  now  and 
then  overpowered  him,  and  his  senses  swam  in  a  wild 
and  snatching  slumber;  but  from  this  he  would  start, 
crying  out  and  clinging  to  the  cordage,  as  the  feverish 
dream  of  an  instant  presented  him  with  the  swelling  can- 
vas of  a  fast-sailing  ship,  which  came,  suddenly  bursting 
through  the  gloom  of  midnight,  alongside  of  his  own. 
Morning  dawned,  really  to  unveil  to  him  the  object  of 
his  fears  following  almost  in  the  wake  of  her  rival.  He 
glanced  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  beheld  the  shores 
of  Ireland ;  in  another  hour  he  jumped  upon  them  ;  but 
his  enemy's  face  watched  him  from  the  deck  of  the  com- 
panion vessel,  now  not  more  than  a  few  ropes'  lengths 
distant. 

Shamus  mounted  a  second  good  horse,  and  spurred 
towards  home.  Often  did  he  look  back,  but  without 
seeing  any  cause  for  increased  alarm.  As  yet,  however, 
the  road  had  been  level  and  winding,  and  therefore  could 
not  allow  him  to  span  much  of  it  at  a  glance.  After 
noon  it  ascended  a  high  and  lengthened  hill,  surrounded 
by  wastes  of  bog.  As  he  gamed  the  summit  of  this  hill, 
and  again  looked  back,  a  horseman  appeared,  sweeping  to 
its  foot.  Shamus  galloped  at  full  speed  down  the  now 
quickly  falling  road;  then  along  its  level  continuation 


200  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

for  about  a  mile ;  and  then  up  another  eminence,  more 
lengthened,  though  not  so  steep  as  the  former ;  and  from 
it  still  he  looked  back,  and  caught  the  figure  of  the 
horseman  breaking  over  the  line  of  the  hill  he  had 
passed.  Tor  hours  such  was  the  character  of  the  chase  ; 
until  the  road  narrowed  and  began  to  wind  amid  an  un- 
cultivated and  uninhabited  mountain  wilderness.  Here 
Shamus's  horse  tripped  and  fell;  the  rider,  little  injured, 
assisted  him  to  his  legs,  and,  with  lash  and  spur,  re-urged 
him  to  pursue  his  course.  The  animal  went  forward  in  a 
last  effort,  and,  for  still  another  span  of  time,  well  be- 
friended his  rider.  A  rocky  valley,  through  which  both 
had  been  galloping,  now  opened  at  its  farther  end,  pre- 
senting to  Shamus's  eye,  in  the  distance,  the  sloping 
ground,  and  the  ruin  which,  with  its  mouldering  walls,  en- 
circled his  poor  home ;  and  the  setting  sun  streamed  golden 
rays  through  the  windows  and  rents  of  the  old  abbey. 

The  fugitive  gave  a  weak  cry  of  joy,  and  lashed  his 
beast  again.  The  cry  seemed  to  be  answered  by  a  shout ; 
and  a  second  time,  after  a  wild  plunge,  the  horse  fell, 
now  throwing  Shamus  off  with  a  force  that  left  him 
stunned.  And  yet  he  heard  the  hoofs  of  another  horse 
come  thundering  down  the  rocky  way ;  and,  while  he 
made  a  faint  eifort  to  rise  on  his  hands  and  look  at  his 
pursuer,  the  horse  and  horseman  were  very  near,  and.  the 
voice  of  his  uncle  cried,  "  Stand  !  "  at  the  same  time  that 
the  speaker  fired  a  pistol,  of  which  the  ball  struck  a  stone 
at  Shamus's  foot.  The  next  moment  his  uncle,  having 
left  his  saddle,  stood  over  him,  presenting  a  second  pistol, 
and  he  spoke  in  a  low  but  distinct  voice. 

"  Spawn  of  a  beggar !    This  is  not  merely  for  the 


THE    EIVAL    DEEAMEES.  201 

chance  of  riches  given  by  our  dreams,  though  it  seems, 
in  the  teeth  of  all  I  ever  thought,  that  the  devil  tells 
truth  at  last.  No,  nor  it  is  not  quite  for  the  blow ;  but 
it  is  to  close  the  lips  that,  with  a  single  word,  can  kill 
me.  You  die,  to  let  me  live  !  " 

"  Help  !  "  aspirated  Shamus's  heart,  turning  itself  to 
Heaven;  "help  me  but  now,  not  for  the  sake  of  the 
goold  either,  but  for  the  sake  of  them  that  will  be  left 
on  the  wild  world  without  me ;  for  them  help  me,  great 
God !  " 

Hitherto  his  weakness  and  confusion  had  left  him  pas- 
sive. Before  his  uncle  spoke  the  last  words,  his  silent 
prayer  was  offered,  and  Shamus  had  jumped  upon  his 
assailant.  They  struggled,  and  dragged  each  other  down. 
Shamus  felt  the  muzzle  of  the  pistol  at  his  breast ;  heard 
it  snap,  —  but  only  snap ;  he  seized  and  mastered  it,  and 
once  more  the  uncle  was  at  the  mercy  of  his  nephew. 
Shamus's  hand  was  raised  to  deal  a  good  blow ;  but  he 
checked  himself,  and  addressed  the  almost  senseless  ears 
of  his  captive. 

"  No ;  you  're  my  mother's  blood,  and  a  son  of  hers 
will  never  draw  it  from  your  heart ;  but  I  can  make  sure 
of  you  again,  —  stop  a  bit." 

He  ran  to  his  own  prostrate  horse,  took  off  its  bridle 
and  its  saddle-girth,  and  with  both  secured  his  uncle's 
limbs,  beyond  all  possibility  of  the  straggler  being  able 
to  escape  from  their  control. 

"There,"  resumed  Shamus,  "lie  there  till  we  have 

time  to  send  an  ould  friend  to  see  you,  that,  I  '11  go  bail, 

will  take  good  care  of  your  four  bones.    And  do  you 

know  where  I  'm  going  now  ?    You  tould  me,  on  Lun- 

9* 


202  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

non  Bridge,  that  you  knew  that,  at  least,"  —  pointing  to 
the  abbey,  —  "  ay,  and  the  quare  ould  hearthstone  that 's 
to  be  found  in  it.  And  so,  look  at  this,  uncle,  honey," 
— he  vaulted  upon  his  relative's  horse,  —  "I'm  just 
goin'  to  lift  it  off  o'  the  barrel-pot  full  of  good  ould 
goold,  and  you  have  only  to  cry  halves,  and  you  '11  get  it, 
as  sure  as  that  the  big  divvle  is  in  the  town  you  came 
from." 

Nance  Dempsey  was  nursing  her  new-born  babe,  sit- 
ting up  in  her  straw,  and  doing  very  well  after  her  late 
illness,  when  old  Noreen  tottered  in  from  the  front  of 
the  ruin,  to  tell  her  that  "  the  body  they  were  just  speak- 
ing about  was  driving  up  the  hill  mad,  like  as  if  't  was 
his  own  sperit  in  great  throuble."  And  the  listener  had 
not  recovered  from  her  surprise,  when  Shamus  ran  into 
the  shed,  flung  himself  kneeling  by  her  side,  caught  her 
in  his  arms,  then  seized  her  infant,  covered  it  with  kisses, 
and  then,  roughly  throwing  it  in  her  lap,  turned  to  the 
fireplace,  raised  one  of  the  rocky  seats  lying  near  it,  poised 
the  ponderous  mass  over  the  hearthstone,  and  shivered 
into  pieces,  with  one  crash,  that  solid  barrier  between 
him  and  his  visionary  world  of  wealth. 

"  It 's  cracked  he  is,  out  an'  out,  of  a  certainty,"  said 
Nance,  looking  terrified  at  her  husband. 

"  Nothing  else  am  I,"  shouted  Shamus,  after  groping 
under  the  broken  slab ;  "  an',  for  a  token,  get  along  with 
yourself  out  of  this,  owld  gran !  " 

He  started  up  and  seized  her  by  the  shoulder.  Noreen 
remonstrated.  He  stooped  for  a  stone;  she  ran;  he 
pursued  her  to  the  arches  of  the  ruin.  She  stopped  half- 
way down  the  descent.  He  pelted  her  with  clods  to  the 


THE   RIVAL   DREAMERS.  203 

bottom,  and  along  a  good  piece  of  her  road  homewards ; 
and  then  danced  back  into  his  wife's  presence. 

"  Now,  Nance,"  he  cried,  "  now  that  we  're  by  our- 
selves, what  noise  is  this  like !  " 

"  And  he  took  out  han'fuls  after  han'fuls  of  the  ould 
goold,  afore  her  face,  my  dear,"  added  the  original  nar- 
rator of  this  story. 

"An'  after  the  gangers  and  their  crony,  Ould  Nick, 
ran  off  wid  the  uncle  of  him,  Nance  and  he,  and  the 
childer,  lived  together  in  their  father's  and  mother's 
house ;  and  if  they  did  n't  live  and  die  happy,  I  wish 
that  you  and  I  may." 


THE   THREEFOLD  DESTINY. 

BY  NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE. 

JN  the  twilight  of  a  summer  eve,  a  tall,  dark 
figure,  over  which  long  and  remote  travel  had 
thrown  an  outlandish  aspect,  was  entering  a 
village,  not  in  "  Fairy  Londe,"  but  within  our  own 
familiar  boundaries.  The  staff  on  which  this  traveller 
leaned  had  been  his  companion  from  the  spot  where  it 
grew,  in  the  jungles  of  Hindostan ;  the  hat,  that  over- 
shadowed his  sombre  brow,  had  shielded  him  from  the 
suns  of  Spain,  but  his  cheek  had  been  blackened  by  the 
red-hot  wind  of  an  Arabian  desert,  and  had  felt  the  frozen 
breath  of  an  Arctic  region.  Long  sojourning  amid  wild 
and  dangerous  men,  he  still  wore  beneath  his  vest  the 
ataghan  which  he  had  once  struck  into  the  throat  of  a 
Turkish  robber.  In  every  foreign  clime  he  had  lost 
something  of  his  New  England  characteristics ;  and,  per- 
haps, from  every  people  he  had  unconsciously  borrowed 
a  new  peculiarity ;  so  that  when  the  world-wanderer 
again  trod  the  street  of  his  native  village,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  he  passed  unrecognized,  though  exciting  the  gaze 
and  curiosity  of  all.  Yet,  as  his  arm  casually  touched 


THE   THREEFOLD   DESTINY.  205 

that  of  a  young  woman,  who  was  wending  her  way  to  an 
evening  lecture,  she  started,  and  almost  uttered  a  cry. 

"  Ralph  Cranfield  !  "  was  the  name  that  she  half  artic- 
ulated. 

"Can  that  be  my  old  playmate,  Faith  Egerton?" 
thought  the  traveller,  looking  round  at  her  figure,  but 
without  pausing. 

Ralph  Cranfield,  from  his  youth  upward,  had  felt  him- 
self marked  out  for  a  high  destiny.  He  had  imbibed  the 
idea,  —  we  say  not  whether  it  were  revealed  to  him  by 
witchcraft,  or  in  a  dream  of  prophecy,  or  that  his  brood- 
ing fancy  had  palmed  its  own  dictates  upon  him  as  the 
oracles  of  a  Sibyl,  —  but  he  had  imbibed  the  idea,  and 
held  it  firmest  among  his  articles  of  faith,  that  three 
marvellous  events  of  his  life  were  to  be  confirmed  to  him 
by  three  signs. 

The  first  of  these  three  fatalities,  and  perhaps  the  one 
on  which  his  youthful  imagination  had  dwelt  most  fondly, 
was  the  discovery  of  the  maid,  who  alone,  of  all  the 
maids  on  earth,  could  make  him  happy  by  her  love.  He 
was  to  roam  around  the  world  till  he  should  meet  a 
beautiful  woman,  wearing  on  her  bosom  a  jewel  in  the 
shape  of  a  heart ;  whether  of  pearl,  or  ruby,  or  emerald, 
or  carbuncle,  or  a  changeful  opal,  or  perhaps  a  priceless 
diamond,  Ralph  Cranfield  little  cared,  so  long  as  it  were 
a  heart  of  one  peculiar  shape.  On  encountering  this 
lovely  stranger,  he  was  bound  to  address  her  thus :  — 
"Maiden,  I  have  brought  you  a  heavy  heart.  May  I 
rest  its  weight  on  you  ?  "  And  if  she  were  his  fated 
bride,  —  if  their  kindred  souls  were  destined  to  form  a 
union  here  below,  which  all  eternity  should  only  bind 


206  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

more  closely,  —  she  would  reply,  with  her  finger  on  the 
heart-shaped  jewel,  "  This  token,  which  I  have  worn 
so  long,  is  the  assurance  that  you  may !  " 

And,  secondly,  Ralph  Cranfield  had  a  firm  belief  that 
there  was  a  mighty  treasure  hidden  somewhere  in  the 
earth,  of  which  the  burial-place  would  be  revealed  to 
none  but  him.  When  his  feet  should  press  upon  the 
mysterious  spot,  there  would  be  a  hand  before  him, 
pointing  downward,  — whether  carved  of  marble,  or  hewn 
in  gigantic  dimensions  on  the  side  of  a  rocky  precipice, 
or  perchance  a  hand  of  flame  in  empty  air,  he  could  not 
tell;  but,  at  least,  he  would  discern  a  hand,  the  fore- 
finger pointing  downward,  and  beneath  it  the  Latin  word 
EFFODE,  —  Dig !  And  digging  thereabouts,  the  gold  in 
coin  or  ingots,  the  precious  stones,  or  of  whatever  else 
the  treasure  might  consist,  would  be  certain  to  reward 
his  toil. 

The  third  and  last  of  the  miraculous  events  in  the  life 
of  this  high-destined  man  was  to  be  the  attainment  of 
extensive  influence  and  sway  over  his  fellow-creatures. 
Whether  he  were  to  be  a  king,  and  founder  of  an  hered- 
itary throne,  or  the  victorious  leader  of  a  people  con- 
tending for  their  freedom,  or  the  apostle  of  a  purified 
and  regenerated  faith,  was  left  for  futurity  to  show.  As 
messengers  of  the  sign,  by  which  Ralph  Cranfield  might 
recognize  the  summons,  three  venerable  men  were  to 
claim  audience  of  him.  The  chief  among  them,  a  digni- 
fied and  majestic  person,  arrayed,  it  may  be  supposed,  in 
the  flowing  garments  of  an  ancient  sage,  would  be  the 
bearer  of  a  wand,  or  prophet's  rod.  With  this  wand,  or 
rod,  or  staff,  the  venerable  sage  would  trace  a  certain 


THE   THEEEFOLD   DESTINY.  207 

figure  in  the  air,  and  then  proceed  to  make  known  his 
heaven-instructed  message ;  which,  if  obeyed,  must  lead 
to  glorious  results. 

With  this  proud  fate  before  him,  in  the  flush  of  his 
imaginative  youth,  Ralph  Cranfield  had  set  forth  to  seek 
the  maid,  the  treasure,  and  the  venerable  sage  with  his 
gift  of  extended  empire.  And  had  he  found  them? 
Alas !  it  was  not  with  the  aspect  of  a  triumphant  man, 
who  had  achieved  a  nobler  destiny  than  all  his  fellows, 
but  rather  with  the  gloom  of  one  struggling  against 
peculiar  and  continual  adversity,  that  he  now  passed 
homeward  to  his  mother's  cottage.  He  had  come  back, 
but  only  for  a  time,  to  lay  aside  the  pilgrim's  staff,  trust- 
ing that  his  weary  manhood  would  regain  somewhat  of 
the  elasticity  of  youth,  in  the  spot  where  his  threefold 
fate  had  been  foreshown  him.  There  had  been  few 
changes  in  the  village;  for  it  was  not  one  of  those 
thriving  places  where  a  year's  prosperity  makes  more ' 
than  the  havoc  of  a  century's  decay ;  but  k'ke  a  gray  hair 
in  a  young  man's  head,  an  antiquated  little  town,  full  of 
old  maids,  and  aged  elms,  and  moss-grown  dwellings. 
Few  seemed  to  be  the  changes  here.  The  drooping 
elms,  indeed,  had  a  more  majestic  spread ;  the  weather- 
blackened  houses  were  adorned  with  a  denser  thatch  of 
verdant  moss;  and  doubtless  there  were  a  few  more 
gravestones  in  the  burial-ground,  inscribed  with  names 
that  had  once  been  familiar  in  the  village  street.  Yet, 
summing  up  all  the  mischief  that  ten  years  had  wrought, 
it  seemed  scarcely  more  than  if  Ralph  Cranfield  had  gone 
forth  that  very  morning,  and  dreamed  a  daydream  till  the 
twilight,  and  then  turned  back  again.  But  bis  heart 


208  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

grew  cold,  because  the  village  did  not  remember  him  as 
he  remembered  the  village. 

"  Here  is  the  change !  "  sighed  he,  striking  his  hand 
upon  his  breast.  "Who  is  this  man  of  thought  and  care, 
weary  with  world  wandering,  and  heavy  with  disappointed 
hopes  ?  The  youth  returns  not,  who  went  forth  so  joy- 
ously ! " 

And  now  Ralph  Cranfield  was  at  his  mother's  gate,  in 
front  of  the  small  house  where  the  old  lady,  with  slender 
but  sufficient  means,  had  kept  herself  comfortable  during 
her  son's  long  absence.  Admitting  himself  within  the 
enclosure,  he  leaned  against  a  great  old  tree,  trifling 
with  his  own  impatience,  as  people  often  do  in  those 
intervals  when  years  are  summed  into  a  moment.  He 
took  a  minute  survey  of  the  dwelling,  —  its  windows, 
brightened  with  the  sky  gleam,  its  doorway,  with  the 
half  of  a  millstone  for  a  step,  and  the  faintly  traced  path 
waving  thence  to  the  gate.  He  made  friends  again  with 
his  childhood's  friend,  the  old  tree  against  which  he 
leaned;  and  glancing  his  eye  adown  its  trunk,  beheld 
something  that  excited  a  melancholy  smile.  It  was  a 
half-obliterated  inscription,  —  the  Latin  word  EFFODE,  — 
which  he  remembered  to  have  carved  in  the  bark  of  the 
tree,  with  a  whole  day's  toil,  when  he  had  first  begun  to 
muse  about  his  exalted  destiny.  It  might  be  accounted 
a  rather  singular  coincidence,  that  the  bark,  just  above 
the  inscription,  had  put  forth  an  excrescence,  shaped  not 
unlike  a  hand,  with  the  forefinger  pointing  obliquely  at 
the  word  of  fate.  Such,  at  least,  was  its  appearance  in 
the  dusky  light. 

"  Now  a  credulous  man,"  said  Ralph  Cranfield  care- 


THE   THREEFOLD   DESTINY.  209 

lessly  to  himself,  "  might  suppose  that  the  treasure  which 
I  have  sought  round  the  world  lies  buried,  after  all,  at 
the  very  door  of  my  mother's  dwelling.  That  would  be 
a  jest  indeed !  " 

More  he  thought  not  about  the  matter ;  for  now  the 
door  was  opened,  and  an  elderly  woman  appeared  on  the 
threshold,  peering  into  the  dusk  to  discover  who  it  might 
be  that  had  intruded  on  her  premises,  and  was  standing 
in  the  shadow  of  her  tree.  It  was  Ralph  Cranfield's 
mother.  Pass  we  over  their  greeting,  and  leave  the  one  to 
her  joy  and  the  other  to  his  rest,  —  if  quiet  rest  be  found. 

But  when  morning  broke,  he  arose  with  a  troubled 
brow ;  for  his  sleep  and  his  wakefulness  had  alike  been 
full  of  dreams.  All  the  fervor  was  rekindled  with  which 
he  had  burned  of  yore  to  unravel  the  threefold  mystery 
of  his  fate.  The  crowd  of  his  early  visions  seemed  to 
have  awaited  him  beneath  his  mother's  roof,  and  thronged 
riotously  around  to  welcome  his  return.  In  the  well- 
remembered  chamber  —  on  the  pillow  where  his  infancy 
had  slumbered  —  he  had  passed  a  wilder  night  than  ever 
in  an  Arab  tent,  or  when  he  had  reposed  his  head  in  the 
ghastly  shades  of  a  haunted  forest.  A  shadowy  maid 
had  stolen  to  his  bedside,  and  laid  her  finger  on  the  scin- 
tillating heart ;  a  hand  of  flame  had  glowed  amid  the 
darkness,  pointing  downward  to  a  mystery  within  the 
earth ;  a  hoary  sage  had  waved  his  prophetic  wand,  and 
beckoned  the  dreamer  onward  to  a  chair  of  state.  The 
same  phantoms,  though  fainter  in  the  daylight,  still 
flitted  about  the  cottage,  and  mingled  among  the  crowd 
of  familiar  faces  that  were  drawn  thither  by  the  news  of 
Ralph  Cranfield's  return,  to  bid  him  welcome  for  his 


210  LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

mother's  sake.  There  they  found  him,  a  tall,  dark, 
stately  man,  of  foreign  aspect,  courteous  in  demeanor 
and  mild  of  speech,  yet  with  an  abstracted  eye,  which 
seemed  often  to  snatch  a  glance  at  the  invisible. 

Meantime  the  widow  Cranfield  went  bustling  about 
the  house,  full  of  joy  that  she  again  had  somebody  to 
love,  and  be  careful  of,  and  for  whom  she  might  vex  and 
tease  herself  with  the  petty  troubles  of  daily  life.  It  was 
nearly  noon,  when  she  looked  forth  from  the  door,  and 
descried  three  personages  of  note  coming  along  the 
street,  through  the  hot  sunshine  and  the  masses  of  elm- 
tree  shade.  At  length  they  reached  her  gate,  and  undid 
the  latch. 

"  See,  Ralph ! "  exclaimed  she,  with  maternal  pride, 
"  here  is  Squire  Hawkwood  and  the  two  other  selectmen, 
coming  on  purpose  to  see  you !  Now  do  tell  them  a  good 
long  story  about  what  you  have  seen  in  foreign  parts." 

The  foremost  of  the  three  visitors,  Squire  Hawkwood, 
was  a  very  pompous,  but  excellent  old  gentleman,  the 
head  and  prime  mover  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  village, 
and  universally  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  sagest 
men  on  earth.  He  wore,  according  to  a  fashion  even 
then  becoming  antiquated,  a  three-cornered  hat,  and  car- 
ried a  silver-headed  cane,  the  use  of  which  seemed  to  be 
rather  for  flourishing  in  the  air  than  for  assisting  the 
progress  of  his  legs.  His  two  companions  were  elderly 
and  respectable  yeomen,  who,  retaining  an  ante-revolu- 
tionary reverence  for  rank  and  hereditary  wealth,  kept  a 
little  in  the  Squire's  rear.  As  they  approached  along 
the  pathway,  Ralph  Cranfield  sat  in  an  oaken  elbow- 
chair,  half  unconsciously  gazing  at  the  three  visitors,  and 


THE   THEEEFOLD   DESTINY.  211 

enveloping  their  homely  figures  in  the  misty  romance 
that  pervaded  his  mental  world. 

"Here,"  thought  he,  smiling  at  the  conceit,  —  "here 
come  three  elderly  personages,  and  the  first  of  the  three 
is  a  venerable  sage  with  a  staff.  What  if  this  embassy 
should  bring  me  the  message  of  my  fate ! " 

While  Squire  Hawkwood  and  his  colleagues  entered, 
Ralph  rose  from  his  seat,  and  advanced  a  few  steps  to 
receive  them;  and  his  stately  figure  and  dark  counte- 
nance, as  he  bent  courteously  towards  his  guests,  had  a 
natural  dignity ;  contrasting  well  with  the  bustling  im- 
portance of  the  Squire.  The  old  gentleman,  according 
to  invariable  custom,  gave  an  ekborate  preliminary  flour- 
ish  with  his  cane  in  the  air,  then  removed  his  three- 
cornered  hat  in  order  to  wipe  his  brow,  and  finally 
proceeded  to  make  known  his  errand. 

"  My  colleagues  and  myself,"  began  the  Squire,  "  are 
burdened  with  momentous  duties,  being  jointly  select- 
men of  this  village.  Our  minds,  for  the  space  of  three 
days  past,  have  been  laboriously  bent  on  the  selection  of 
a  suitable  person  to  fill  a  most  important  office,  and  take 
upon  himself  a  charge  and  rule,  which,  wisely  considered, 
may  be  ranked  no  lower  than  those  of  kings  and  poten- 
tates. And  whereas  you,  our  native  townsman,  are  of 
good  natural  intellect,  and  well  cultivated  by  foreign 
travel,  and  that  certain  vagaries  and  fantasies  of  your 
youth  are  doubtless  long  ago  corrected,  —  taking  all  these 
matters,  I  say,  into  due  consideration,  we  are  of  opinion 
that  Providence  hath  sent  you  hither,  at  this  juncture, 
for  our  very  purpose." 

During  this  harangue,  Cranfield  gazed  fixedly  at  tht 


LITTLE   CLASSICS. 

speaker,  as  if  he  beheld  something  mysterious  and  un- 
earthly in  his  pompous  little  figure,  and  as  if  the  Squire 
had  worn  the  flowing  robes  of  an  ancient  sage,  instead 
of  a  square-skirted  coat,  flapped  waistcoat,  velvet  breeches, 
and  silk  stockings.  Nor  was  his  wonder  without  sufficient 
cause ;  for  the  flourish  of  the  Squire's  staff,  marvellous 
to  relate,  had  described  precisely  the  signal  in  the  air 
which  was  to  ratify  the  message  of  the  prophetic  Sage, 
whom  Cranfield  had  sought  around  the  world. 

"  And  what,"  inquired  Ralph  Cranfield,  with  a  tremor 
in  his  voice,  —  "  what  may  this  office  be,  which  is  to  equal 
me  with  kings  and  potentates  ?  " 

"  No  less  than  instructor  of  our  village  school,"  an- 
swered Squire  Hawkwood ;  "  the  office  being  now  vacant 
by  the  death  of  the  venerable  Master  Whitaker,  after  a 
fifty  years'  incumbency." 

"  I  will  consider  of  your  proposal,"  replied  Ralph 
Cranfield,  hurriedly,  "  and  will  make  known  my  decision 
within  three  days." 

After  a  few  more  words,  the  village  dignitary  and  his 
companions  took  their  leave.  But  to  Cranfield's  fancy 
their  images  were  still  present,  and  became  more  and 
more  invested  with  the  dim  awfulness  of  figures  which 
had  first  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  and  afterwards  had 
shown  themselves  in  his  waking  moments,  assuming 
homely  aspects  among  familiar  things.  His  mind  dwelt 
upon  the  features  of  the  Squire,  till  they  grew  confused 
with  those  of  the  visionary  Sage,  and  one  appeared  but 
the  shadow  of  the  other.  The  same  visage,  he  now 
thought,  had  looked  forth  upon  him  from  the  Pyramid 
of  Cheops ;  the  same  form  had  beckoned  to  him  among 


THE   THBEEFOLD   DESTINY.  213 

the  colonnades  of  the  Alhambra;  the  same  figure  had 
mistily  revealed  itself  through  the  ascending  steam  of 
the  Great  Geyser.  At  every  effort  of  his  memory  he 
recognized  some  trait  of  the  dreamy  Messenger  of  Des- 
tiny, in  this  pompous,  hustling,  self-important,  little 
great  man  of  the  village.  Amid  such  musings,  Ralph 
Cranfield  sat  all  day  in  the  cottage,  scarcely  hearing  and 
vaguely  answering  his  mother's  thousand  questions  about 
his  travels  and  adventures.  At  sunset  he  roused  him- 
self to  take  a  stroll,  and,  passing  the  aged  elm-tree,  his 
eye  was  again  caught  by  the  semblance  of  a  hand,  point- 
ing downward  at  the  half-obliterated  inscription. 

As  Cranfield  walked  down  the  street  of  the  village, 
the  level  sunbeams  threw  his  shadow  far  before  him ; 
and  he  fancied  that,  as  his  shadow  walked  among  dis- 
tant objects,  so  had  there  been  a  presentiment  stalking 
in  advance  of  him  throughout  his  life.  And  when  he 
drew  near  each  object,  over  which  his  tall  shadow  had 
preceded  him,  still  it  proved  to  be  one  of  the  familiak 
recollections  of  his  infancy  and  youth.  Every  crook  in 
the  pathway  was  remembered.  Even  the  more  transi- 
tory characteristics  of  the  scene  were  the  same  as  in  by- 
gone days.  A  company  of  cows  were  grazing  on  the 
grassy  roadside,  and  refreshed  him  with  their  fragrant 
breath.  "It  is  sweeter,"  thought  he,  "than  the  per- 
fume which  was  wafted  to  our  ship  from  the  Spice  Isl- 
ands. The  round  little  figure  of  a  child  rolled  from  a 
doorway,  and  lay  laughing  almost  beneath  Cranfield's 
feet.  The  dark  and  stately  man  stooped  down,  and, 
lifting  the  infant,  restored  him  to  his  mother's  arms. 
"The  children,"  said  he  to  himself,  —  and  sighed,  and 


214  LITTLE    CLASSICS. 

smiled,  —  "  the  children  are  to  be  my  charge ! "  And 
while  a  flow  of  natural  feeling  gushed  like  a  wellspring 
in  his  heart,  he  came  to  a  dwelling  which  he  could  no- 
wise forbear  to  enter.  A  sweet  voice,  which  seemed  to 
come  from  a  deep  and  tender  soul,  was  warbling  a 
plaintive  little  air,  within. 

He  bent  his  head,  and  passed  through  the  lowly  door. 
As  his  foot  sounded  upon  the  threshold,  a  young  woman 
advanced  from  the  dusky  interior  of  the  house,  at  first 
hastily,  and  then  with  a  more  uncertain  step,  till  they 
met  face  to  face.  There  was  a  singular  contrast  in  their 
two  figures ;  he  dark  and  picturesque, —  one  who  had  bat- 
tled with  the  world, —  whom  all  suns  had  shone  upon,  and 
whom  all  winds  had  blown  on  a  varied  course ;  she  neat, 
comely,  and  quiet, —  quiet  even  in  her  agitation, —  as  if 
all  her  emotions  had  been  subdued  to  the  peaceful  tenor 
of  her  life.  Yet  their  faces,  all  unlike  as  they  were,  had 
aa  expression  that  seemed  not  so  alien, —  a  glow  of  kin- 
dred feeling,  flashing  upward  anew  from  half-extinguished 
embers. 

"You  are  welcome  home ! "  said  Paith  Egerton. 

But  Cranfield  did  not  immediately  answer ;  for  his  eye 
had  been  caught  by  an  ornament  in  the  shape  of  a  Heart, 
which  Faith  wore  as  a  brooch  upon  her  bosom.  The  ma- 
terial was  the  ordinary  white  quartz ;  and  he  recollected 
having  himself  shaped  it  out  of  one  of  those  Indian  arrow- 
heads, which  are  so  often  found  in  the  ancient  haunts  of 
the  red  men.  It  was  precisely  on  the  pattern  of  that  worn 
by  the  visionary  Maid.  When  Cranfield  departed  on  his 
shadowy  search  he  had  bestowed  this  brooch,  in  a  gold 
setting,  as  a  parting  gift  to  Faith  Egerton. 


THE   THREEFOLD   DESTINY.  215 

"  So,  Faith,  you  have  kept  the  Heart ! "  said  he,  at 
length. 

"  Yes,"  said  she,  blushing  deeply ;  then,  more  gayly, 
"  and  what  else  have  you  brought  me  from  beyond  the 
sea  ?  " 

"  Faith ! "  reph'ed  Kalph  Cranfield,  uttering  the  fated 
words  by  an  uncontrollable  impulse,  "  I  have  brought  you 
nothing  but  a  heavy  heart !  May  I  rest  its  weight  oa 
you?" 

"  This  token,  which  I  have  worn  so  long,"  said  Faith, 
laying  her  tremulous  finger  on  the  Heart,  "  is  the  assur- 
ance that  you  may  !  " 

"  Faith !  Faith ! "  cried  Cranfield,  clasping  her  in  his 
arms,  "  you  have  interpreted  my  wild  and  weary  dream ! " 

Yes,  the  wild  dreamer  was  awake  at  last.  To  find  the 
mysterious  treasure,  he  was  to  till  the  earth  around  his 
mother's  dwelling,  and  reap  its  products!  Instead  of 
warlike  command,  or  regal  or  religious  sway,  he  was  to 
rule  over  the  village  children !  And  now  the  visionary 
Maid  had  faded  from  his  fancy,  and  in  her  place  he  saw 
the  playmate  of  his  childhood !  Would  all,  who  cher- 
ish such  wild  wishes,  but  look  around  them,  they  would 
oftenest  find  their  sphere  of  duty,  of  prosperity,  and 
happiness,  within  those  precincts,  and  in  that  station, 
where  Providence  itself  has  cast  their  lot.  Happy  they 
who  read  the  riddle,  without  a  weary  world-search,  or  a 
lifetime  spent  in  vain  I 


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